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A Very Brief Intermission (Advance Wars 2 War Room - Mial's Hope as Hachi) With any luck the update will be up tomorrow, we recorded the commentary tonight. In the meantime though (and to ensure that the update happens on the next page, because it's pretty huge) I thought I'd talk about something I did the other day. I was having an argument with a friend about something AW2 related (can't remember what now) so I'd fired it up to check. At which point I remembered that I still had two War Room maps that I hadn't yet beaten. One of them was Mial's Hope, which in AW2 (and probably AWDS as well?) is fought against Sensei. Now, as you may well know, Sensei is my favourite CO. To the extent that I think I'd formed a mental block about actually beating the war room map ("man, how can I beat up Sensei? He's Sensei!" etc.), not to mention that it's a tough map and Sensei is a very tough CO to face. But I was like, "well, I've got this thing switched on, may as well try it." To increase my chances of victory, I picked Hachi. Yes, I know, I know. But still, there's something fitting about AW's two oldest COs going to fight each other. I didn't do a thorough documentation of it, but I did take some photos at the end:  The northern front. A losing battle, but a losing battle with an important purpose. See that 1HP AA? I'd been keeping that AA alive, in a heavily damaged state, to (naturally) exploit a flaw in the AW2 AI: it just tends to think that one AA, one missile launcher and one fighter is more than enough anti-aircraft cover for a map this size. Even if that AA is on 1HP. As a result, in the south I was able to do...  ... this. Why yes, that is a whole bunch of bombers surrounding an HQ-capturing infantry unit. Bombers at least are a unit that infantry and mechs have no answer to (this will prove to be quite relevant in the next AC update, too).  A surprisingly solid score - only two points from an S-Rank - though even with infantry spam I couldn't raise my technique score too high.  And another slot filled in the ol' War Room list. Now the only one left is...  ... oh. Oh dear. Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Feb 5, 2013 |
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Feb 5, 2013 01:06
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Risky Vale is easy with Sami or Sensei. WWN's resident War Room god even beat it with Grimm, who was added to AW2 through a ROM hack. Though he did savestate... I'm surprised that's the only one left for you, rather than Terra Maw, which was the last one I beat. That map is just too long, and in AW2 the AI isn't completely dumb, so no abusing that.
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Feb 5, 2013 01:17
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Ephraim225 posted:Risky Vale is easy with Sami or Sensei. WWN's resident War Room god even beat it with Grimm, who was added to AW2 through a ROM hack. Though he did savestate... I'll have to try Risky Vale at some point, though one thing that worried me playing through Mial's Hope was that I kept getting a graphical glitch - black horizontal lines would flash across the screen during play. Is my AW2 cartridge giving up the ghost? 
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Feb 5, 2013 01:25
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Advance Campaign Mission 7: Sami's Debut! AC as Max (or "Something, something, Sun Tzu") YouTube Video (38m52s) Yeah, this one's a bit of a slog. I considered doing some fancy fast-forward editing for it (read: getting SupSuper to do some fancy fast-forward editing for me) but you guys said you'd be happy with a 39 minute derpfest (and thinking about it, getting SupSuper to do it would be nigh-on impossible given that the pre-compression video is about 15 gigabytes) so here we go. Joining me for this marathon are Krysmphoenix, Sockerbagarn and Assoonasitis.  I'm using Max. Believe me, I tried using Sami. On that link is an uncommentaried trainwreck attempt at this mission using Sami, preserved for posterity because a) I wanted to show off how much trouble this one gave me, b) so you can see the Defeat Screen being animated and c) Sami's theme, dammit!  Picture-in-picture! Partly because I was getting fed up of the table-breaking, mostly because, thanks to the fog of war, there's nothing visible in the covered-up part of the map anyway. We're down a B copter, a T copter and an AA from Normal Campaign, and already it feels like it's going to get a lot messier with those units gone. What does Eagle have? Well...  ... lots of stuff. In particular, he's got a crazy number of bombers. I think there's six in total out there. There's also a couple of fighters, a fair few B copters, and I think three medium tanks, including a nasty surprise one guarding the HQ. This is going to be a slog. We've got to make Eagle come to us a bit at time, then advance to tease out his defensive units. It's slow and complicated, but it's the only way to deal with such a massive force, especially with the imperfect intel that Fog of War gives us. Some units will be taking on slightly different roles here: while the missile launcher is handy for attacking aircraft (admittedly less so with Max in charge of it), in the absence of a recon it will come in extra handy for its large vision range. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as fast as a recon, a factor which adds to the grindiness of this mission. The APC, meanwhile, will be vital not for its decoy work (though there'll still be a bit of  this mission) or its ability to carry footsoldiers, but for its ability to resupply - this is a large map and a long mission, and keeping our fighter in the air and our heavy ground units stocked with ammo is vital. Anyway, let's get this show on the road by doing the obvious thing and attacking the two B copters that we can see.  I send the B copter out to cripple one of the copters rather than finishing it off with the AA: this is so I can make sure that the AA is nicely hidden in a forest. With the biggest threat to us being Eagle's planes, it's more important that we keep the AA in good condition than the B copter. That and land units can hide in forests. Speaking of hiding things in forests, I find somewhere to hide every single one of our ground troops. Do I get a medal?  A couple of turns on. I dealt with the damaged B copter on Day 3, and here I took down a fighter (which had destroyed my T copter) using my missile launcher and my own fighter.  A riskier manoeuvre here, as three of my footsolders pile onto one of Eagle's capturing infantry (two of them are still in forests, right? They should be safe) while the fourth climbs a mountain to see what it can see.   Ah. Well then. So much for that.  Yeah, that's three of the four footsoldiers gone. I at least manage to take down one of the bombers after my AA boldly heads out to spot it. Meanwhile, the final mech stays perched on its mountain post, with the goal of drawing Eagle's bombers into the killzone.  We certainly aren't winning this one by HQ Capture. Those of you who wanted to see me win an AC map by Rout, you've got your wish.   So, here's something that's going to be a theme of this mission: the AI not really getting Lightning Strike. You can see the logic, sort of: the bombers don't have anything to shoot at (all the ground units are safely hidden in forests), so they don't move. But it means that the extra turn of Lightning Strike is completely wasted; furthermore, Eagle's units are now suffering from the attack and defence penalties that Lightning Strike gives units. If the AI had been a smidge smarter, it might have saved that Lightning Strike up for a time when it'd be more useful, the same way that AI Andy won't waste Hyper Repair when it has no injured units. Alternatively, it could have retreated, or have one bomber spot and the other attack. But I can't complain. On this mission, I'll take anything I can get.  The Lightning Strike defence penalty means that even Max's missile launcher can one-shot a bomber. Thanks, Eagle, you're a pal.  Bombers cleared out, fighter refuelled. So far, so good.  But we're not done with bombers just yet. This AA only just scraped through the latest barrage.  Taking out the light tank with B copter and our own tank reveals allows the AA to retreat... which, naturally, reveals a fifth bomber. Our fighter can take one of them out easily enough, but what about the other?  Well, it's time for some good ol' . APC heads to the HQ for maximum defensive cover (we want it to survive, after all), medium tank and artillery assure than the APC can't be attacked from inside the missile launcher's range shadow (and are in turn guaranteed safety by the power of ). Of course, Eagle does have some pretty powerful bombers... ... but not powerful enough.  Bomber down, AA continues its retreat, and the action is over for now.   So let's fast-forward a few turns to a bit of derpery on my part - I was all excited that Eagle had put his medium tank into artillery range in order to get a shot in on my B copter... but then the cold truth hit. I was playing as Max, and Max has terrible artillery.  Well, let's deal with one problem at a time. First let's get rid of this infantry, so we don't have to worry about sneaky HQ captures (you laugh, but on a previous attempt at this I had to scramble a defence with the missile launcher sitting on the HQ soaking and healing up infantry chip damage while an artillery rushed back to finish the infantry off). The B copter's vulnerable to that medium tank, sure, but it's better than our middie taking the hit.   And of course, this could always happen. Once again, Eagle completely wastes his second turn following a Lightning Strike. The medium tank just sits there, neither attacking nor retreating. I'm guessing it was planning to attack the B copter, but then decided that it didn't like the odds (as far as I can tell, one bit of AI cheating is that it knows how lucky an attack will be before it attempts it - which can make fighting, say, AI Flak a little awkward at times). Either way, once more Eagle has turned what is supposed to be an advantage into a disadvantage by giving his units a nasty defence penalty.  One I take full advantage of (though I think Max could have done this, defence penalty or no).  Fast-forwarding several more turns of painstaking healing and creeping forward through forests, to the death of my B copter as one of Eagle's choppers emerges from the fog. It goes down to the array of anti-aircraft units I have at my disposal, but it's always a shame to lose a unit.  And yet more fast-forwarding, skipping over a bunch of turns of me shuffling the agonisingly slow missile launcher around in an attempt to use its large vision range to spot the other B copter that I know is lurking out there. The light tank is a gamble here, leaving it out in the open to see if it attracts that B copter...  ... but it has other ideas, working together with Eagle's second fighter to cripple two of my anti-aircraft units.  But then, maybe they aren't so crippled.  The fighter falls easily to my AA, and my 4HP fighter and medium tank combine to knock the B copter down to 1 health - it'll get finished off soon enough.  Let's fast-foward again, to the point where a medium tank and a B copter gang up on my light tank, taking it down (I didn't picture the light tank dying because I wanted to use its vision range to show you the B copter).  I reckon my best option here is to attack the medium tank head on, then stop the B copter going for my own middie with a bit more . Next turn, the AA takes out the B copter and the fighter and medium tank hunt down Eagle's retreating middie. We've already seem Eagle mess up Lightning Strike twice this mission. But he's saved the best for last:  That's right, he did nothing on his first turn, activated Lightning Strike, then did nothing on his second turn. I think this might just go down as the creme de la creme of Advance Wars artificial stupidity. Thing is, by this point he's down to two units - a medium tank and a bomber - both set to defensive AI. Come hell or high water, those two units aren't moving unless we enter their attack range.  Another fast-forward. After worrying so much about keeping the APC alive so that my units didn't run out of supplies, naturally the first thing to run out of fuel is... the APC itself. Oh well, we shall just have to press on without it. At least it's far enough away from the action that it shouldn't get hurt.   After a few more turns, finally I spot Eagle's last two units: a medium tank and a bomber, standing guard over the HQ.  Getting rid of the bomber is easy enough. The middie proves to be more stubborn.  A lot more stubborn. Dammit, just die!  There we go. Victory is ours!  Here's a bit of dialogue we didn't get to see in Normal Campaign, thanks to me playing as Sami in this mission in all three legs of the Trousers of Time. Basically, this is what you get when you play this mission as Max.  Yeah, it sure looks like it! You're the Orange Star CO? Where's Andy? Andy? Listen up, pal. I'm Max. The best Orange Star has to offer!Big-headed it may be, but let's face it, in Advance Wars 1 it's entirely accurate. I'd heard of a CO who was as strong as a bull but a bit one-dimensional. Who could have forseen that I could lose to him? What? What did you say?Uh-oh.  I don't think you're ready for war! Who... Who are you? The name's Sami. I'm an Orange Star CO too! This is Paul, our advisor and strategist.Hiya. Y'alright? Max may be one-dimensional, but that's no problem. Hold it! What about me is one-dimensional? You stink at indirect combat. Rrr...Hey, at least your missile launcher had some fun this mission.  Failing to consider Paul was your downfall. You need to go back to basic training and try again!This is pretty funny given I spent most of the mission derping around a bit while relying on Max's crazy direct firepower to pull me through.  An advisor? Is that someone who gives orders to officers in the field?Can't help but read that line in Solid Snake's voice. "Watch out Eagle, they're using an advisor." "An advisor?" In any case, Sami, Paul... Yes? I would like to apologize for my behaviour. It was inappropriate. Oh, OK... I vow by my lucky goggles that the next time we meet, I will do better.Lucky goggles. Still makes me smile. Now I will take my leave. Farewell Wait! Wait a minute! No-one said you could leave. Come...But Sami, if the enemy COs didn't keep mysteriously escaping every time we captured them, how would we ever have a plot? He seems like a pretty decent guy after all.  B-Rank, no big surprise there for a mission that took me 33 days to complete. At times I was overly cautious, it's true, but I had some real trouble beating this mission so by this point I wasn't taking any chances. Hey, at least it was a Rout this time  . On to Yellow Comet, and after the mess of Sami's Debut, this doesn't actually look too bad. OS has had a rocket launcher downgraded to an artillery, Kanbei's got two more artillery and two more light tanks. With no fog of war to make life awkward, this could be a lot worse. Still though, I'm thinking of using Max again, simply because of how effective he is. See you next time! Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Feb 5, 2013 |
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Feb 5, 2013 15:13
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In my defence, I have a terrible memory, so the fact that the copters attacked each other mere seconds before doesn't matter. 
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Feb 5, 2013 15:18
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Good god that was a slog.  Do you have a non-FoW version of the map to share just to punctuate how outgunned you were?
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Feb 5, 2013 17:24
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So, are you gonna unlock the Sonja missions, too? 
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Feb 5, 2013 17:35
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MR. J posted:Good god that was a slog. ). That's six bombers, two fighters, five B copters, three medium tanks, a light tank and two infantry.quote:So, are you gonna unlock the Sonja missions, too? 
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Feb 5, 2013 18:03
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Unlocking the Sonja missions was the only thing that made me resort to a turn-by-turn guide when I played AC. Turns out Kanbei's AI is really predictable (shocker). Thankfully, actually beating them isn't much harder than in NC.
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Feb 5, 2013 18:10
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Advance Campaign Mission 8: Kanbei Arrives! AC as Max (or "A Sting in the Tail") Youtube Video (16m17s) After the long slog of the last mission, this one seems positively straightforward. Perhaps too straightforward. Hmm... Joining me this time are ScotchDK and SupSuper.  Going with Max again because with AW1 Max, you frankly need a good reason not to use him.  There really isn't that much difference between this and the original. Orange Star gets a rocket downgraded to an artillery, Yellow Comet gets two more artillery in their advance guard, and two more tanks in their main army. Really shouldn't bog us down too much.  Pretty straightfoward gameplan, too. First of all, Max is going to rush out and smash up those indirects (the arties do at least mean that we have to send out the light tanks as well as the middies), then after that we're going to retreat to the two handy chokepoints we're given. From there we're going to do something highly unlikely and have Max beat Kanbei in a chokepoint war (hence the laughter in step 3). Finally, once we've whittled Kanbei down enough, our suped-up tanks can roll out and clear away what's left. Seems pretty straightforward, so let's get to it.  Again, I'd like to restate that I love how old-fashioned the Yellow Comet units look. Those rockets  . Seems a shame to destroy them. But destroy them we must. Phase 1 complete.  Kanbei responds by rolling up his troops and only managing to get one attack in. I guess he decided against trying to take on Max's middies.  Fair enough, let's all retreat and hold the line at these two handy cities.  Kanbei's got Morale Boost already, thanks to the sheer amount of damage we handed out in whacking those indirects (recall that, given his extra costs, his meter's going to fill pretty fast even if it is a long meter.  He doesn't really do much with that Morale Boost, though. Put mildly.  ... yeah. One attack, and stuffing himself over by blocking up the chokepoints with fast but not particularly strong light tanks. Good ol' AW AI.  Of course, Max's terrible indirects mean that we can't target everything we'd like to target. But it's a start.  A turn later, and we're getting a bit more mileage. Ideally we need some shots on the medium tanks, though.  Another turn later, and we get our chance.  Kanbei moved his medium tanks into indirect range, and so they pay the price.  Bit of a waste using a Max Force medium tank to take down a 2HP tank, but oh well. I break out from behind the mountains now that Kanbei's starting to struggle.  Kanbei responds. The light tanks are hurting a fair bit now, and one of them's surrounded.  Middie clears a path so that the light tanks can retreat and join up.  Kanbei's getting pretty short on units now. But how quickly can we finish this off?  Ugh. Not quite quickly enough. This infantry's going to hold on grimly with its 1HP. I could have sent the medium tank after it...  ... but it seemed more useful up here.  Still, we clear things up at the start of Day 8.  Kanbei seems to be pretty impressed at how quickly we beat him.   The game certainly isn't though. Bloody hell. This certainly hammers home one of the more subtle ways that Advance Campaign can screw you over - this mission seemed pretty easy, and ultimately it was. But as a result, the scoreboard was grading me to a much higher standard if I wanted even the remote possibilty of an S-Rank. In hindsight, I treated this mission far too much like I was playing, say, Normal Campaign or an AW2 Hard Campaign mission, focusing on just grinding out a win and trying to keep units alive. But as we've seen, that really isn't AC's style though. Even when it's playing nice, it still has a sting in the tail.  Which brings me on to the next mission. Again, it doesn't look too horrible: we get a medium tank downgraded to a light tank, which is potentially awkward, and Kanbei's got a few more troops, but at least they start further back so we have a little more time to prepare. But then... after the B-Rank shock here... do we want to take things that slowly? I guess we'll find out next time.
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Feb 11, 2013 19:13
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For reference, the KV-2 was a Soviet heavy tank, not a German one.
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Feb 11, 2013 21:40
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Rogue0071 posted:For reference, the KV-2 was a Soviet heavy tank, not a German one.  Paul and Sup's Embarrassing Moments LP
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Feb 12, 2013 01:48
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Out of interest, what are the unlocking-the-Sonja-missions day limits for Advance Campaign? Are they the same as NC, or are they stricter?
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Feb 12, 2013 11:10
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Same time limits.
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Feb 12, 2013 19:36
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Max seems like he's pretty ace at holding chokepoints, since that does tend to minimize his range weakness.
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Feb 20, 2013 01:25
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Glazius posted:Max seems like he's pretty ace at holding chokepoints, since that does tend to minimize his range weakness. Against the ai yes he is decent at it. However other COs are superior at it because they can cram more indirects into the firing line than max can. Max's low range means that in most cases if max doesn't push the fight into the open, his opponent will have a significant advantage merely from the number of shots fired.
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Feb 20, 2013 04:23
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I've been enjoying reading your AC let's play. Kind of like a trip down memory lane for me. Some of the S rank requirements are extremely difficult, and a few are literally impossible to get a perfect score on (the first mission being an example). My highest average was 991 on the most difficult routes, although I read a few people have got a 993 average by taking easier routes with higher score potential. Keep it up! Btw in order to S rank Kanbei Arrives! AC you need to HQ capture in 5 days, and even then it's impossible to get a perfect score. You're coming up on Kanbei's Error which is a stopping block for a lot of playthroughs. Have fun figuring it out! mjemirzian fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Feb 21, 2013 |
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Feb 21, 2013 07:26
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Advance Campaign Mission 9: Mighty Kanbei! AC as Andy (or "Lose the battle, win the war") Youtube Video (22m43s) Moving on through Yellow Comet, we hit a mission that, in NC is an old favourite of mine. Let's see how Advance Campaign warps it to its will... Joining me this time are Seraphroy and BrooklynBruiser.  Picking Andy for this because, you know, chokepoints. Also I've used Max for four missions straight and it feels like time for a change.  The only change to Orange Star's forces is that Andy's had the medium tank on the eastern chokepoint changed to a light tank. This makes a huge difference, though - without the security of a medium tank holding Kanbei at bay there, it's going to be a much tougher job holding the line there, even with Hyper Repair. Kanbei's medium tanks start further back, but it's little consolation - his arsenal has been augmented by two more light tanks and - worst of all - some more rocket launchers. Those rockets will be our nemesis this mission. Now, plan A is to hold the chokepoints the same way we did in Normal Campaign. Pretty quickly though, I realise that I'm going to need Plan B...  ... which is to do an HQ capture run, the same way that I showed off with Sami during Normal Campaign. Without giving away too much just yet, let's just say that the majority of Kanbei's forces will be heading to the eastern chokepoint. This leaves the south relatively unguarded for us to trundle an APC up to Kanbei's HQ at the same time as he's hammering down on the chokepoint in the east. Something, something, Sun Tzu indeed.  Similar opening moves to NC, as the rockets bombard the tanks and the eastern tank gets a shot in on Kanbei's rockets.  Kanbei responds with... yeah. You could say that I was guilty of understatement earlier. This is simultaneously scary as hell, and an interesting opportunity: with a single infantry unit heading towards the southern front, the HQ is wide open.  Continuing to deal with Kanbei's initial forces.  His main forces hit hard though.  This is not going to be fun, is it?  But we can at least repair the chokepoint. For now. Meanwhile, I get an APC ready to go.  Next turn, it's time for a Hyper Repair.  I could have attacked this medium tank for reasonable damage...  ... but for reasons only known to Past Paul, I opted to bash up a light tank instead. Yeah, I got nothing.  Speaking of derps, here's another one. I really should have done this - yes, Kanbei's infantry will be able to get an attack in, but even Kanbei's infantry aren't going to make a huge dent in an APC. And at least the APC would be past the chokepoint.  But instead I put the APC over here, again for reasons only known to Past Paul. I also crank out a medium tank. Not for the chokepoint, though!  Kanbei's had enough of this nonsense.  Or at least, some of his units have. Note that the southern infantry has now blocked the bridge. Nice work, Past Paul. Can I get rid of it though...?  Nope. But yeah, not only are we fighting Kanbei, he's got Morale Boost up. Even Max would have a tricky time one-shotting this infantry.  As an aside, I just noticed a weird little effect when I was going through the video footage frame-by-frame. I slowed the animation speed down so you can get a good look at it: indirects seem to emit a bunch of zeroes when they go to present targets you can hit.  Oh well. We patch up the front line and fight on. At least I attacked a medium tank this time! (now that it's Kanbei who has his CO Power active rather than Andy...).  After another turn, Kanbei's rockets are in a position to really start hurting me.  But still we fight on.  With the infantry on the southern bridge down, my APC escapes, and I crank out more reinforcements.  And that's Kanbei through the chokepoint. We might still be able to hold him off, though?  APC heads towards the HQ, followed by its medium tank escort.  And the rockets go into arrow overload as I try to keep Kanbei out.  It's... not really working. But let's have another Hyper Repair.  Dropping off the infantry a little short of the HQ. The AI might realise something's up if I drop it directly on the HQ, after all.  We fight off the light tanks...  ... but Kanbei's here with a little reminder of the kind of nonsense he can inflict.   For example.  Our main force is pertty much screwed. But on the bright side, the one unit that Kanbei sends south to check up on my HQ capture attempt is an artillery. Win the battle, lose the war, and all that.  That arty is easily dealt with.  And we finish this off on Day 10. No rout, but you may have noticed from the last two missions that routs don't really lead to good ranks...   Instead, we get an A-Rank. At least this mission was a bit more lenient with the timings than the last one. Astute readers may note that it took me eight turns to beat Kanbei Arrives! AC, and ten turns to beat this. So I'm actually on schedule for unlocking the AC Sonja missions. While I'd ideally rather avoid them, you know what? I'm not going to cheese my way out of doing them by deliberately taking a long time on these missions. That seems unfair to those of you who want to see them. Still, this is assuming I can beat Kanbei's Error? AC in twelve days. This is assuming I can beat Kanbei's Error? AC. You see, the next mission has something of a... reputation. Let's see if we can work out why:  Notice something different about it? Yep, this map wasn't a Fog of War map in NC. But it is now. That's the first time that Advance Campaign has pulled this trick on us. Off the top of my head, the only other time I've seen this happen is with AW2's Border Skirmish mission - fogless in NC, fogged in HC. Though from what I've read, there are other examples of this buried in Advance Campaign. Still, simply putting this mission in the fog has ramped up the challenge a whole bunch - and as it's a property capture mission, we're already on a knife-edge. Indeed, this mission is pretty much known as the ender of Advance Campaign runs. But hey, my mix of optimism, derpery and serendiptous reliance on AI screwups has got me this far. We'll see where we can go.
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Feb 21, 2013 22:46
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Video is worth it for the ending alone. That's all I have to say. I still really enjoy guest commentating. Though half the time my mind is trying to piece out what I would do, then trying to figure out WHY Paul decided to attack a light tank, or not move an APC down fully, or whatever.
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Feb 21, 2013 22:55
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Seraphroy posted:Video is worth it for the ending alone. That's all I have to say. Yeah, commenting is fun, and watch the ending. I try not to mock Paul's fuckups, because odds are I'd gently caress up the same way or worse. 
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Feb 21, 2013 22:57
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Everyone's a backseat player when it's not their LP.Seraphroy posted:Video is worth it for the ending alone. That's all I have to say.
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Feb 22, 2013 13:54
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Paul.Power posted:
If only you had AoE attacks. I can only imagine how much Sturm would like this. Actually, is there anything in later games that attacks more than one spot at once?
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Feb 22, 2013 18:05
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unpronounceable posted:If only you had AoE attacks. I can only imagine how much Sturm would like this. Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Feb 22, 2013 |
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Feb 22, 2013 18:49
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unpronounceable posted:If only you had AoE attacks. I can only imagine how much Sturm would like this. In every game after this one, there's missile silo map features, which can be used by any kind of footsoldier to launch a fixed 3-damage attack in a 3x3 diamond. Not counting Sturm, there's also a couple other CO Powers which have fixed AoE damage, in addition to some map-wide damage Powers. And, there's a unit in DS, the Black Bomb, a 25000-cost air unit which detonate into a 5x5 diamond dealing a fixed 5 damage. Of course, none of them have the ability to reduce a unit below 0.1 HP. Paul.Power posted:Covering Fire The interesting thing about Covering Fire is that each missile's targeting works differently - the first specifically targets the largest group of infantry it can with priority given to capturing infantry, the second aims to deal the most possible damage in terms of funds, and the third aims to deal the most HP damage. Because one of them always goes after infantry, though, it's quite rare for it to be more devastating than Meteor Strike and Firestorm. Firestorm, in particular, is notable for applying Tabitha's absurd +60/+60 bonus to all of her units, which is often exactly what you need to win the game in one turn, while Covering Fire only gives +10/+10. Adelheid fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Feb 22, 2013 |
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Feb 22, 2013 18:55
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Kanbei's Error is more difficult than most of the campaign because you can't turtle your way out of it. He'll just capture the bases on you if you take too long. Hopefully it doesn't drive him to the brink of madness. Most people end up using a guide, but is that forbidden in a Let's Play?
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Feb 24, 2013 02:43
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mjemirzian posted:Kanbei's Error is more difficult than most of the campaign because you can't turtle your way out of it. He'll just capture the bases on you if you take too long. Hopefully it doesn't drive him to the brink of madness. Most people end up using a guide, but is that forbidden in a Let's Play? Not especially. For one, nobody will know unless you tell. For two, in some cases showing everything off may require a guide, like in the case of obtuse secrets (think the Zodiac Spear in FFXII) or large numbers of hidden collectables. For three, it's a hobby; nobody can tell you you're doing your hobby "wrong".
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Feb 24, 2013 02:47
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mjemirzian posted:He'll just capture the bases on you if you take too long. With too long being something like 5 turns
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Feb 24, 2013 03:08
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Hmm. If Kanbei had evenly divided his forces, would you have been able to break out? Especially given that you could build new units but he had no factories.
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Mar 1, 2013 00:13
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Glazius posted:Hmm. If Kanbei had evenly divided his forces, would you have been able to break out? Especially given that you could build new units but he had no factories. In theory, yes. The ai wont attack a md tank with a regular tank if the md has sufficient hp advantage. You could abuse this combined with the ai move order to limit threats to just ranged units. With those down you could pile all your indirects on one front to break it and ship out the apc. It would be unlikely to get a decent score however, since that strategy emphasizes technique and power over time, when only time matters for AC
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Mar 1, 2013 03:49
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Good news! Just battered my way through Kanbei's Error? on what was at least the tenth attempt and probably a deal more than that. All I can really say on the subject is:  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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Mar 18, 2013 15:49
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAirport?
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Mar 18, 2013 20:22
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What's an airport, again?
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Mar 23, 2013 21:25
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mjemirzian posted:I've been enjoying reading your AC let's play. Kind of like a trip down memory lane for me. Some of the S rank requirements are extremely difficult, and a few are literally impossible to get a perfect score on (the first mission being an example). My highest average was 991 on the most difficult routes, although I read a few people have got a 993 average by taking easier routes with higher score potential. Keep it up! Huh? It is possible to perfect S rank the first mission, unless I am going crazy. I thought there was only one map that was literally impossible to get a perfect score on.
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Mar 23, 2013 22:16
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He meant a perfect score, not an S rank. You can get an S rank without a 100% strength, speed, and technique score.
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Mar 23, 2013 23:39
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Yes some AC missions are impossible to get a perfect score on. The highest end of game score you can get is 993 w/ Eagle and Max in TFB, or 991 w/ Eagle and Olaf in TFB. 991 w/ Eagle and Olaf is the more difficult accomplishment despite resulting in a lower score. Congrats Paul.Power for completing Kanbei's Error, that's definitely a sticking point for a lot of players.
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Mar 25, 2013 03:04
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Advance Campaign Mission 10: Kanbei's Error? AC as Max (or "What's an airport, again?") Youtube Video (40m7s) Yep, that's the longest video yet, folks, and with good reason. This one is mean - it's often regarded as the mission where the true Advance Campaign begins - and while it can certainly be done quickly (here for example we have Sockerbagarn beating it in eleven days), it took me rather a lot of attempts to string a successful run to beat it. By which point I wasn't concerned about niceties like ranking time limits. Curiously, although it's a longer video than Sami's Debut, it takes fewer days - just 25. Joining me on this odyssey into airport-induced brain failure are BrooklynBruiser, Sockerbagarn and Sylphid.  No real surprises here, using Max again. I did try using Sami on one attempt, thinking that I might be able to speed things up with her faster T copters, but we really need Max's stopping power here.  So, why is this mission so hard? Well, there are three main problems: 1. Most obviously, Fog of War. As previously mentioned, this is the first mission (so far!) in Advance Campaign that's added fog as an extra obstacle (though, to be fair, I have no idea if, say, Blizzard Battle also pulls this trick). Fog makes any mission harder, especially one with all-seeing AI planes. 2. Kanbei has a lot of aircraft: three fighters, two bombers and two B copters. These are a serious issue, especially the fighters and B copters. 3. He also has enough extra infantry that, if we don't sabotage at least one of them, it'll be game over in six days. The peril of property capture missions! On the, er, plus side, at least Orange Star doesn't lose any units from its starting attack force. Goodness knows what this would be like if they did.  The first step is that we need to fend off Kanbei's air force - and in particular, we must ensure that our B copter survives the initial assault. That's because the B copter is our only starting unit that can both fly and attack ground targets - we'll need both of those assets if we want to put a spoke in Kanbei's capturing wheel. While we could perhaps build another B copter if the starting one went down early, with our low starting funds and the six-day limit, we can't really afford to. The easiest infantry unit to target is the one capturing the three cities on the north central island - incidentally, Kanbei now has an extra AA there, just to make things spicier. One that infantry is crippled, we've bought some time - though we'll need to finish it off to make sure. After that, it's a case of sealing the deal - capturing the remaining cities, while keeping an eye out for Kanbei's bombers and T copters. By the end, we'll even have a few bombers of our own.   Andy and Kanbei exchange the traditional pleasantries.  And after Kanbei's turn, we've already met two fighters and two bombers, and Max's starting T copter is already gone. At least it meant that our fighter didn't get toasted . Yellow Comet fighters  . Max's fighter takes on one fighter, while the missile launcher and AA destroy the other. Note that I used my AA to finish off a 3HP fighter rather than attack the bomber sitting right next to it. Because protecting that B copter is our highest priority (incidentally, I've retreated it behind a wall of ground units), Kanbei's bombers will get be getting free reign for a few turns as I prioritise attacking the stuff that can take down our chopper. The ground troops will be taking a hell of a pounding, but that's Advance Campaign.  Our defences weren't quite strong enough: the missile launcher's gone, and the crucial B copter's had 4HP chipped off of it  . But at least it's alive, and we've been putting out and taking enough damage that I get an early Max Force. Incidentally, another good reason to attack that 3HP fighter with the AA instead of a bomber is that if we'd attacked the bomber, Kanbei would have already had his first Morale Boost. Downing the full health fighter and a B copter gives our own B copter a chance to head out into the open. Meanwhile, another sacrificial B copter is employed to keep that 3HP fighter at bay.  We could only delay Morale Boost one turn though...  Did I mention that Kanbei has rockets on his "base" island? Yep. Not sure if he built them or if they're pre-deployed, but they're certainly a nasty complement to that bomber force.  Speaking of bomber forces, we're still struggling to stay alive right now.  But we do have an opening - rushing in the fighter for vision, we can get our first hit in on that critical infantry unit. We can even hit it before it finished off the penultimate city (though saying that, Sockerbagarn recommended to me that I should have gone in a little later, when the inf was on the final city and protecting my B copter from attack by tank or AA. But hey, at least I've bought plenty of time).  Back at base, my AA fells the second B copter, and Kanbei only has one 3HP fighter remaining from his initial air superiority force. However, those of you keeping track of events better than me will note that the place where I left the AA isn't exactly ideal...   At least I didn't leave the AA blocking up my airport. The chip damage war in the north continues, as tank attacks B copter, B copter attacks infantry, and AA destroys fighter. And for once one of my T copters makes it off the helipad.   Over the next couple of turns, I start to get derpier and derpier, running into two traps in as many turns. Still, it's Day 7 by now - on most of my attempts at this, it'd be game over by now.  Kanbei adding some insult to injury by trying to take one of my home island cities.  GET ORF MOI LAND (and yes, I did try to join two 3HP infantry inside a T Copter. I wish I knew why. At least I joined one of them with something else.  Another trap, though at least this time I probably couldn't have seen it coming: Kanbei's dropped a mech onto this island.  Deploying a B copter to take care of that mech. That infantry up there's a bit of desperation play, since Kanbei should have the resources to finish it off before it can do anything useful...  ... operative word being "should". Okay, I get the AA wanting to attack the T Copter over the infantry. But what on earth is that tank doing?  So far this AC run really has consisted of me doing stupid things and the AI doing even stupider things, hasn't it?  A day later, and Kanbei still doesn't know/care about my infantry chilling right next to his tank  . His 3HP fighter still continues to charge around like the Duracell/Energizer Bunny, though (thanks, Wikipedia, it's good to know that I'm not going crazy. Well, not going crazy in regards to battery-powered bunnies at least). After another turn, Kanbei decides to try and stage another invasion.  No dice, even if it does put this B copter in harm's way (speaking of harm's way, I really should have attacked with the B copter before the infantry. Oh well). I also build an APC to distract those bombers away from my attempt to capture the airport island.  Well, that distraction worked perfectly ( ). I should try it again! ... ah. For whatever reason, the bombers didn't take the bait this time, preferring to assault the capturing infantry over the APC. Normally that only happens with HQ captures. Maybe because it's a property capture map, the AI has an extra little bit of code that lets it prioritise infantry capturing everything? Would make sense, I guess. This does give me the opportunity to deploy an AA and use the APC as bait, though...  Add some Max Force into the mix...  ... and we get a very cathartic one-shot in on this bomber.  B copter continues to police the aiport island, and all is (relatively speaking) well.  Even Morale Boost can't dent our, er, morale too much much.  Rolling along. Destroyed the T copter first because that 2HP mech can wait, and I am fed up with Kanbei's T copters by now.  Keeps going and going and going and...  ... oh. Never mind.  Building a bomber for the final assault on the north central island.  And after a few turns of setup...   ... it's action time. More catharsis, this time in the opposite direction.  Amazingly, that tank is still staying put. Seems a shame to destroy it...  ... but, sadly, it's standing in the way of progress.  And that's it! We're done.  Sonja isn't very happy that we took 25 days, though. Sorry about missing out on the Sonja levels guys, but all I really have to say on the subject is:  What's an airport, again?  What's an airport, again?  What's an airport, again?  What's an airport, again?  What's an airport, again?  What's an airport, again? Paul.Power fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Mar 27, 2013 |
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Mar 27, 2013 20:20
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Watching this mission, I can only think of one thing: You see, That said, it felt very good to see those dying after half of the mission. Carry on Paul, don't give up until we know for certain just what an airport is!
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Mar 27, 2013 20:53
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The very concept of an airport makes no sense. Ports are where ships take off, but a port in the air? Boats can't fly! Also, good job getting through this. I was worried the LP would end here, but you may make it through to the end. But this does lock you out of using Max in any of these upcoming missions, because you do NOT want Sami on the right for TFB advance...
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Mar 27, 2013 21:04
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Good job. The shortest you can complete Kanbei's Error? AC is 8 days, but 9 days is already a perfect score. Here's a 9 day strat.
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Mar 28, 2013 04:54
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 22:50 |
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No. Don't get yourself Rivals AC. Don't do it. DO NOT DO IT.
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Mar 28, 2013 19:31
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