|
Last Transmission posted:Which is even worse because it's a plot point that only the I will freely admit that even when I replay the game for fun I usually finish the ED campaign in the next mission or two so I don't get too deep into that plot. But don't worry, I'll continue to uh "liberate" credits for the glorious Eurasian Dynasty!
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2013 19:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 07:33 |
|
|
  Welcome to Panama comrades! Our continued assault on the UCS has driven them all the way to the bridge between the two Americas. Also I didn't send you some POWs to do...whatever it is you did to them Major Minsk. That's not very nice  I don't think I want to work with you anymore. Can I have a transfer?Oh and this is the last resource extraction mission before the endgame. I hope this doesn't make anyone too sad.   Once again we start with almost nothing. The minimap helpfully has the resource extraction point revealed so instead of bumbling about in the dark I can send the Siberias off to blaze a path to the deposits.  It looks like the resources are on the UCS side of the canal. Still, it shouldn't be a problem for us to sneak by.  Well unless there's a pair of Fortresses guarding the other bank. Already we've seen more ingenuity in defense in this resource mission than we have since the Alaska mission. The Alaska mission had the UCS put a base on the resource field we needed. Now they're actually building defenses and defending their territory instead of letting us take it and launching ineffective attacks on our mining operation.  Of course they're powering these behemoths with an Energy Transmitter instead of a true Power Plant, so the Fortresses are easy to take dow-  Oh you assholes... The UCS have found quite the counter to our standard plan for dealing with static defenses. Once the Fortresses lost power a series of bombs attached to the bridges detonated. The Fortresses are still largely helpless, but with no reinforcements coming any time soon it's best to write these three scouts off as dead.  And of course the one Fortress that does still have power is upgrading its weapons. These guys are toast.  We'll need a more significant force to take the northern bank and defend our Gruz while he rebuilds the bridge. At bare minimum we'll need to resupply our rockets and bullets.  A bit of scouting from our captured Moons from last mission reveal a small UCS research/mining base to the south. It cannot be permitted to stick around researching... whatever it is the UCS are researching.  The UCS have rebuilt and we're now going to need to stage a frontal assault against three Fortresses with a sturdy power plant behind them. I probably should've waited and just sent the UFO across, but that would be a much more boring mission. Given the difficulty of storming such a position, let's see if there are any alternative approaches available. Unfortunately the canal is too deep to build a crossing at any point other than the one guarded by the UCS. Our only other option is to dig our way there.  But underground won't work; that's a completely solid rock wall surrounding the northern bank.  Our navy currently won't stand a chance against those Fortresses. I'm going to get the Leviathan fully researched in case we need to use the navy to break the UCS defenses. The Leviathan is a traditional battleship. Each upgrade for it will not only increase the typical stats like HP and speed but also allow you to mount an additional weapon. The fully upgraded Leviathan is a terrible sight to behold for your enemies near the ocean.   The small research/mining base has no hope of holding out against these Moons. It's lack of defenses are baffling considering the superior tactical positioning of the UCS on the other side of the canal. Why didn't they put this facility over there?  With the base leveled we set up a small mining operation to give us the credits we'll need to finance the assault.  The UCS defenses are fully upgraded and operational. I really, really don't want to charge head-first into that.  Maybe the UFO can find an alternate route?  Yeah, not really. I count two Fortresses guarding the southern approach with another two north of the power plant. Even the UFO isn't that tough. Had the UCS not built the power plant at the bridge I might be able to take out the Energy Transmitters but that's now pointless. Once again my early aggression and carelessness have made this mission tougher than it really needs to be. But it makes for a much more interesting update!   The next Leviathan chassis is added to the research queue.   I get it Igor. Work is going according to schedule. It's always going according to schedule. And you've yet to realize that you didn't get any money for that last resource collection mission.Who are you related to that lets you get a job like that when you're so obviously incompetent!?  (Remember, this Axeil is the son of the Khan  )  The UCS are no longer content to get whittled away by the UFO and have started focusing their fire on it at first sight. It's only by the barest of margins that I manage to maneuver the spaceship out alive.  Perhaps a distraction operation will allow the Gruz enough time to complete the bridge? It's not a lot of segments and the Gruz can take a beating. The driver will die but he's just a Gruz driver.   The majority of the army heads to the Pacific coast to begin their feint.  Let's hope it works   Our Groznys have engaged the UCS air force. So far so good.  The Leviathan is finished so now let's move on to the Heavy Laser.  The engagement has moved to the North American side of the battlefield. Unfortunately, the UCS airforce greatly outnumbers our Groznys here. Choppers are getting lit up and dropping out of the sky at an unsustainable rate. I order a retreat, hopefully this moved the UCS's attention away from the Gruz moving across the canal.  Guess not.    To make matters worse, the Gruz driver didn't measure the height properly so the bridge he built is too low and can't connect to the other half. Well done! I take out my frustration the best way I know how: harassing UCS Repairers. They're all dead now. But the airforce doesn't like this and they've gotten a bit cross with me.  Which plays right into my trap. The Groznys pick off the Gargoyles one by one as the UFO draws them into the skies over the forest.  Thanks to this the ED now has aerial superiority.  The lack of harassment from the UCS Gargoyles allows the UFO to sneak past the Fortresses, taking only minimal damage. He leaves a trail of destroyed Energy Transmitters in his wake. Not that killing them does any good other than killing the backup power supply to the bridge though.  The third Fortress is out of range from this approach angle. The UFO can take on two Fortresses at once and after a brief volley there are only two Fortresses defending the bridge.  And with the Fortress on the right flank destroyed the UFO can run in and hide back where the power plants are, well out of the range of the guns of the defenses.   Goodbye Fortresses. You were the best challenge we've seen in any resource collection mission   With the defenses down, another Gruz is able to begin constructing a bridge. Once the bridge is built the army can move in to take the resource fields.  There is a small UCS base here but it's not going to stand a chance against the UFO.  Panthers are a slightly more concerning problem, but the air cover over the canal can take them out before they cause any mischief.  The Heavy Laser is finished. And now we have this...laser-y monstrosity.  Hooray we're across! Pop the champagne! Alright time to head hom- Oh right. We still need to mine all the resources.  Come on guys, let's set up shop. There we go. That's looking pretty good. Now to wait for the 50,000 CR to get to base.  It's very boring so I hunt some Minelayers in the northwest of the map.  Ugh. This is taking forever. Isn't there anything more exciting to do?  Blowing up power plants counts as excitement right? With the UCS airforce neutered, destroying the UCS base is just a matter of positioning and effective use of other units to draw fire away from the UFO.  And once the UFO has cut the power its all over. Happy turkey shoot everyone! You've earned it.   I research the Heavy Ion Cannon while waiting for the credits to move. It's like the regular Ion Cannon but hits harder and mounts on a heavy weapon slot.  Thank god. I'm sick of these resource collection missions. We're moving to take overall command of our newest front: Africa. There's still a bit of cleanup to do here though.  Like making our laser monstrosity more monstrous withe the first Heavy Laser upgrade. And ED News has a report on our success. Not all the credits were embezzled this time so we've got our first evacuation ship finished. Good. This is the one that I'll be riding on now. As far as I'm concerned this thing is over, thus why I'm going off to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNeHoE3_lUM   The Heavy Laser Cannon and Heavy Ion Cannon are fully upgraded. We'll see them in action soon.  300,000 credits to go. I think Major Minsk can handle getting all that on his own, don't you? I mean, assuming the mining at home is going well I don't see any reason for us to worry anymore. (Except the mining at home isn't going well at all. Recall all the LC missions that took place in ED territory, stealing resources out from under the Dynasty's nose. Thus, the pivot to Africa.)   Another mission, another impressive score sheet.  rest of briefing posted:They are currently under attack from UCS troops. We have assembled a convoy loaded with supplies for our African comrades. You are to escort the convoy to its destination. And this is the bit of the campaign that almost no one sees that I was alluding to earlier in this thread. Mozambique begins the Ashanti missions for the ED. We'll be trying to secure an alliance with this tribe against the UCS. Africa is one of the few unclaimed places on the map, mostly due to the Ashanti's defense against ED and UCS raids. But with the Americas in ruins the UCS are being forced to push into Africa and other marginal territories with all their might. Constant LC raiding in Asia have also made the resource situation for the Eurasian Dynasty perilous. Both factions need the resources here. And we're not even counting the possibility that the LC intervenes and plays spoiler. We could have a 4-way conflict on our hands in the waning days of Earth's life. The Battle for Africa may just determine who wins and who loses the Last War on Earth.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2013 03:41
|
|
|
Can you build structures that are rigged to blow when your base goes up? Or is that just a plot thing for this mission?
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2013 22:00
|
|
|
Glazius posted:Can you build structures that are rigged to blow when your base goes up? Or is that just a plot thing for this mission? All your buildings can auto-destruct but for this mission (and others) it's just a plot thing. You can't rig them to blow when someone gets nearby sadly.
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2013 02:58
|
|
|
 Hello again everyone! Apologies for the long hiatus, real life got in the way. Even though we're in the end of summer here, in 2150 things are about to get really, really warm. The ED Weather Report has more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbz_0nNEoNQ  As I mentioned earlier, the ED are now allied with the Ashanti due to the UCS incursion into Africa. The alliance is still in its infancy and these fresh supplies from the Dynasty will be critical in cementing our friendship. Failure here may unwind the hard work of our diplomats.  As we start out, we can see that the convoy is not very well-protected. It's made up of defenseless trucks and the only thing we have in Africa at this time are a bunch of outdated Pamirs. We'll need to solve that issue if we're to defend this convoy.  While we wait for the Ukraine to show up, we can research upgrades to the 120mm bullet used in the Heavy Cannon.  The Pamirs will, like all outdated units, work for us as scouts and bait. It is critical they divert any UCS fire from our convoy.  We have made contact with the enemy. It was only a single Spider and was easily destroyed by the Ashanti escort, however our location has been revealed. Raids will now begin in earnest and we must hope we can hold out until a detachment from HQ arrives.  As predicted, an true attack immediately follows. Our Pamirs are doing an okay job holding them off though.  And with the arrival of the UFO the battle immediately ends in our favor. Hooray UFO!  The convoy will need to travel underground to get out of this ravine. We can't scout the tunnels, so we'll have to hope they're clear. I'll send the air force ahead to secure the exit point though.   The tunnels look clear, and there's no resistance at the exit. One less thing to worry about.  The second 120mm bullet upgrade.  Even though the exit from the tunnel is clear, a UCS force is trying to flank our position. The Pamirs I left behind to guard the tunnel entrance intercept them though.   Uh...  I don't think the trucks can make it across that... Quick, bring up the Gruz!  This is the perfect time for a UCS ambush, so the Groznys will provide air cover while the Gruz reconstructs the bridge.  The final 120mm bullet upgrade.   Fortunately for us the attack doesn't come and the Gruz is able to complete the construction in peace. With the bridge rebuilt, the convoy can proceed to the base.  The destroyed bridge was very close to the Ashanti base so I struggle to believe the UCS destroyed that bridge. Did they destroy the bridge themselves to keep the UCS away?   Hooray! The convoy has made it to the base. Now we can head hom...destroy the UCS bases in the area? Well alright then! Also the Consul General is very uncreative with his name-calling.  At least we're given full control of the Ashanti base. This will make things much easier.  I don't believe I've shown off this structure yet. This is the ED Radar and its used to detect units at range. It's not all that great initially however...  Every upgrade you research to the Screamer/Noise Generator will not only give you the ability to paralyze units, it will also upgrade the Radar and allow it to detect cloaked UCS units. I'm not sure if the AI will actually use Shadow Generators against you, but to be safe I'm researching the upgrades.  After taking control of the Ashanti base, the UCS almost immediately destroy our initial LZ. Why weren't these Gargoyles off hunting the convoy? It would've made the mission much more challenging if I had to deal with Gargoyle harassment the whole time.  With the need for protecting the tunnels made moot, I send the Pamirs off to find the UCS base. They run into some Tiger Ps, so I assume they're getting close.  drat! That looks to be a pretty well-defended base. It's not going to be as hard to crack as the defensive positions in Panama, but I won't be able to send in just the UFO.   Give the Ashanti credit, they've got a very robust air defense system set up. Probably because they were dealing with UCS air attacks since the bridge made it impossible for the UCS to conduct a ground assault.  A group of Tigers destroy the tunnels. We don't need them anymore so I don't really care. Unsatisfied with destroying only tunnels, the Tigers attempt to penetrate the Ashanti base. It goes poorly for them.  Similar to the UCS's Shadow Generator, the ED can mount the Noise Generator on its Taigas. If you recall, they were used to great effectiveness against me at the conclusion of the LC campaign. Now that I have this tech, it's finally time to turn the tables.  And I get busy researching the next Screamer upgrade.  Following another pathetic UCS assault, I decide it's time to move the Ashanti/ED force out to destroy the enemy base. Let's hope they can punch through the Fortresses.  We run into a bit of a traffic jam on the reconstructed bridge. The pathfinding can get a bit wonky when you're forcing units to make a single file.  By the time we reach the plateau near the base, the UCS have finally brought out the heavy weaponry. This Panther has enough firepower to stop our scouts.  I don't like my scouts stopping, so I'll respond with the entire army. The UCS have brought in a Panther G to reinforce, but it won't be enough.  The outer skirmishers swept away, its now time for the main assault. The Ashanti units have the "honor" of being the first wave.  They're actually doing quite well so far! They've not been completely annihilated and managed to cut the power to one of the Fortresses.  Unfortunately for them, that doesn't do much to stop the Gargoyles. Since the Ashanti units have no anti-air defenses they're easily picked apart. It is only the arrival of the second line, containing the bulk of the ED army that saves the few remaining Ashanti units.  By the time we reach the interior of the base, the fighting is at a fevered pitch. You can see two Power Plants here, with a third off to the south. Guess what we do to their Power Plants?  We.  Shut.  Them.  Down. With no power the only thing left is mop-up.   We've destroyed the UCS base in the area. With the pressure relieved on the Ashanti in Mozambique I believe our alliance is secure.  STOP SENDING ME UPDATES IGOR!   Most of the casualties suffered were the Ashanti units. However, we still have a much smaller army than we did at the start of this mission.  With Africa stabilized (for now), we need to continue striking against other UCS outposts. This one in Red Rock, Australia has been raiding our convoys from Asia. Some of those supplies are going towards our new allies in Africa. Destroying it will help keep the munitions flowing and our Ashanti friends happy.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2013 01:39
|
|
|
Glad to see you're back for more mayhem of a catastrophic scale!
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2013 07:24
|
|
|
Oh hey you've returned! Sweet sweet apocalypse action.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2013 13:44
|
|
|
  Red Rock can either be a very short, simple and easy mission or a very long, annoying and costly mission. We'll be doing the short version.  We start with a Caspian 20mm scout and a whole lot of desert. Making matters worse, there's no ore field near our start location.  We finally have access to the first of the two ED heavy aircraft/bombers. The Thor is the more versatile of the two as it's fast enough to use as an assault helicopter or a light bomber.  Our scout runs into some Panther hP units. It spells doom for this plucky little Caspian.  But the Panthers have no anti-air escort, so once the Groznys from HQ find them it spells doom for them too.  I use the UFO to finish them off while the Groznys are reloading.  However, there are more Panther hPs heading for our landing site. Red Rock requires you to get carry-over troops here very, very quickly as the Panther hPs will automatically come towards your LZ once the mission begins.   With the UCS attack thwarted, I send the Groznys and UFO to this mineral patch outside the UCS base to do some Harvester harassment.   I find even more Panther hPs in the tunnels but they're no match for the UFO.  Noting my pestering of their Harvesters, the UCS sends over a Mammoth to try and build a Fortress. No way we can let that happen, so I have the UFO take care of them.  The UCS may be pushed back into their base, but they have the high ground and the one entry point is very well-guarded. Looks like we'll need a true base after all.  It won't be focused on building much, but this base right on the UCS doorstep should be enough to allow us a quick turnaround between assaults.  Just like the UCS, the ED also has a flying resource collection unit. Unlike the UCS though, there is almost never a reason to use the Thor Transporter. It's 600 credits more than a ZK Taiga Transport and you typically will want to build your mines right next to the Refinery/Transport Base, blunting the usefulness of a flying transport. Still, it's there if you ever decide you need it.  The Thor can't mount the standard helicopter rocket launcher, so we'll need to research the heavy version.  Our first strike at the UCS base is a success. Using the UFO's speed and exploiting the undefended hole in the middle of the UCS base allows the UFO to shut down the power to the majority of the base's defenses. It's not quite over yet, but it's practically impossible for the UCS to come back from this. If you notice, I've moved very, very quickly in this mission. That's because any dawdling will allow the UCS to build a Plasma Control Center and ruin your week. Additionally, if you let the UCS build the Fortress to protect its Harvesters you will be unable to take the eastern mineral patch, further complicating matters. The long version of this mission involves feints and counters to eliminate the UCS Plasma Control Center. If you act quickly enough and can establish a foothold where I have though, you'll be able to put enough pressure on the base that they can't get their superweapon working. Thus why I chose the quick version of this mission over the slow version. Trust me, you'll see plenty of the Plasma Control Center. The UCS will have a superweapon advantage for at least the next two to four missions.  With the power down, the only thing the air force need fear are the few scattered small towers.  The base is fully built, but it looks like we won't be needing it for more than the occasional repair and resupply. Oh well. We can still mine some more credits for Operation: Steal from Exodus.   The UFO can take out the remaining small towers rather quickly.  With the destruction of the final UCS power plant the ability of the UCS to defend itself is finished. Now we'll just have to do the typical cleanup.  The combat version of the Thor is complete. It hits much harder than a Grozny and still has an impressive speed of 25. Think of it like the UCS Bat, although I think the Thor is a more solid light bomber.  I'll work on the lone chassis upgrade for the Thor now. Once that's done I also worked on the heavy rocket upgrade, but I didn't bother screenshotting it as you guys know how that research works by now and it happened between this mission and the next one.  All that's left is the destruction of these few buildings.  And with that we've reclaimed Australia! It won't bring back the men who died getting the Ion Cannon prototype out of Australia a few missions ago, but we have avenged their deaths. And more importantly, we've further secured our supply lines heading into Africa.  251,400 credits If I combined this with the credits sitting in HQ right now I could complete the campaign.But I won't since I promised to show these rarely seen ED missions.   I lost the initial scout and a single Grozny. Had I not been quick I would've taken far greater losses. I like the quick way much better.  While Australia may now be secure, the UCS still has one outpost left in the Pacific that could pose a problem to us: their naval base in New Zealand. With the Australian command node destroyed due to our actions at Red Rock, this base is unlikely to be able to coordinate a major challenge to our supply lines. Still, even the occasional raid is unacceptable and since we're still assigned to our army in the South Pacific, it makes sense to eliminate this final threat now. Once this base is neutralized we can transfer back to Africa and help the Ashanti in their offensive against the UCS.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2013 21:39
|
|
|
Holy poo poo, I'm starting to realize why nobody ever gets to see the Ashanti plot.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2013 21:52
|
|
|
my dad posted:Holy poo poo, I'm starting to realize why nobody ever gets to see the Ashanti plot. Yeah, it's a real shame. Honestly, a good solution would be to require the ED to mine 2,000,000 that way it would make all the resource collection missions make sense. The ED evacuation fleet is 16 separate ships so it really wouldn't surprise me if it cost a lot more to build.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2013 22:34
|
|
|
Anyone notice that the ED ships look like Corellian Corvettes from Star Wars? Also the one problem I always had with he Thor was that I always felt for the most part the Han was a better unit to wait for.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2013 14:14
|
|
|
Crowsbeak posted:Also the one problem I always had with he Thor was that I always felt for the most part the Han was a better unit to wait for. Especially considering how fun it is to park a few Hans over someone's base.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2013 15:58
|
|
|
  Welcome to New Zealand. The situation here is rapidly deteriorating and requires more skilled leadership. It was wise of us to stick around after cleaning up Australia. The UCS has managed to consolidate most of its Pacific fleet here in New Zealand and if they are able to push us back to Australia could re-establish control over the South Pacific. Our goal this mission is to sink the UCS Pacific Fleet and destroy the UCS Naval Base in the region. With the fleet sunk and the last holdout in the South Pacific obliterated the UCS will no longer pose any threat in the Pacific. This will not be an easy task, so let's hop into the action.  The ED base here is a mere refuel and resupply depot. It has no hope of holding out against the UCS.  The UCS is already upon is right from the mission start. Their intent is to clear out the two vessels in the area as a precursor to a full-on invasion. We cannot allow them this first foothold. Two nearby Cossack 20mm copters are scrambled to assist the navy.  The Cossacks arrived in the nick of time. One ship was sunk, however the other still floats. Sadly, it is too badly damaged to be of any use to us and so it shall be scuttled. Naval units cannot be repaired as there is no way to mount Repairers on boats. Keeping the ship around would prevent us from building more effective units.   Our earlier research into the Leviathan-class battleship will pay off now. I've constructed two models here, one focusing on long-range damage and bombardment while the other focused on anti-ship weaponry. The first ships will be used to bombard the coast while the second can engage the UCS navy head-on.  While forcelimits have increased, the cost of these new battleships is far beyond the cost of any unit we've built so far. Thus, old units must be "recycled." The death of these tanks pilots will be remembered as a great sacrifice for the glory of our Khan.  GO AWAY IGOR NO ONE LIKES YOU  Early scouting of the UCS base indicates a level of fortification never before seen. However, the UCS navy is nowhere to be found. I know they're out there somewhere though. They might be stationed close to port rather than out to sea.  With the forcelimits cleared up for our navy I begin construction of our first battleship, the Leviathan-class cruiser Goliath. The Goliath will use the second Leviathan-class configuration and focus on clearing out the enemy naval screen.  Currently our harbor has two entry points. I would like to keep our flank unexposed while simultaneously constructing a forward supply area. I order the Gruz to construct a bridge. This will enclose the harbor's western flank while also allowing the Gruz to construct the needed forward supply depot.  Land forces are useless in this mission. However, our new Thor hR should prove helpful in establishing air superiority in conjunction with our already existing Groznys.  The Goliath has put to sea. Isn't she a beauty? I've also constructed an additional 2 Seaports. These will build 2 more Leviathan-class battleships, the Leviathan and the Juggernaut. These will be configured for shore bombardment and will help punch a hole in the defenses that the UFO and our air force can use to bring the base down.  The attack force is ready. From left to right we have: -The Leviathan -Two Irkutsk-class support ships, one configured with a 20mm gun and the other with a mobile Noise Generator -The Goliath -Two additional Irkutsk-class support ships, in the same configuration as the others -The Juggernaut -Four Grozny R helicopters -Two Thor hR helicopters -The UFO  Our forward resupply base is ready. We have the go-ahead to move into UCS waters and destroy the UCS fleet. The UFO will act as a scout and attempt to draw any UCS ships away from coastal defenses, allowing the Goliath and air force to engage unmolested by Fortresses or Large Towers. The supporting Irkutsk-class ships will use their Noise Generators to jam transmissions with the UCS mainframe, holding the fleet in place and ensuring their destruction.  The UFO has found the fleet. Let's see if he can draw the two large battleships out into the open sea.  The trick appears to have worked, two UCS ships are already immobilized by the Noise Generators and the air force is quickly filling a small Shark-class boat with holes.  Unfortunately the UCS fleet has retreated back to their harbor to protect one of the disabled Hydra-class cruisers. But given our advantage I order the ED fleet to pursue. We are moving into very hostile waters. This could bite us in the rear end, but the destruction of the disabled ship will all but end the battle.  Success! Another UCS ship lines the ocean floor. The final Hydra-class has no chance against our entire navy. Once it is destroyed we will raze the shipyards and the three Leviathan-class ships will begin bombarding the shoreline.  Look how far out the Leviathan and Juggernaut are. The long range Heavy Rocket Launcher that you can mount on your capital ships has an unbelievable range. It's a real shame there are only one or two missions in the game that really let you go to town with your navy. It's incredibly fun pounding the enemy from beyond his own targeting range.   The UFO makes a quick strike against the port's lone Power Plant. The network of Energy Transmitters still exist, but with the destruction of this Power Plant and the subsequent bombardment and destruction of the remaining Shipyard, it is unlikely the UCS will be able to re-build their docks and put another navy out to sea. Our first objective has been completed. We now just need to clear the island of any UCS defenses.   The Leviathan-class ships begin circling the island, bombarding the coastal defenses. Since the guns of the Leviathan and Juggernaut out-range the structures there is no risk. The Goliath runs a slight risk of taking damage as its Heavy Cannon has a shorter operational range, but with the UFO hitting Power Plants from the real there is no true danger.   The defenses on the west side of the island have been powered down. They are completely helpless against the bombardment.   The UCS resource collection area was initially quite well-guarded, but with no power and the battleships spitting hellfire at them they too fall quickly.  With the anti-air defenses mostly neutralized, the air force joins in on the fun.   The eastern side of the island falls just as quickly as the west did.  With the destruction of this Power Plant the entire island is defenseless. Now to clean up the remnants.  Concentrated fire from the navy, air force and UFO bring down the few remaining Large Towers. However, we still need to check the small outlying isles for any UCS presence.    We encounter no resistance as it appears the isles were unfortified and only used as a ferrying point for UCS Harvesters. I guess the UCS doesn't have the flying Harvester tech yet.  Uh, Lt. General Shakt, I already did take out the robots, what are you talking about?  I return the fleet to port. We now have complete control of the Pacific, and amazingly didn't lose a single ship during the entire engagement.   Our losses were primarily helicopters that were shot down in the initial bombardment of the coastline. Oh and those units I had to sacrifice at the start of the mission.  rest of briefing posted:Our best chance of breaking this stranglehold is in Egypt. Destroy all UCS forces. While we were off in the South Pacific, the UCS have managed to establish control of the Nile River and Egypt. We need access to North Africa to get to West Africa as we still have not managed to cripple the UCS Atlantic Fleet. Our only option is to move through North Africa via Egypt, but there is a large UCS base blocking our way. It will need to be eliminated.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2013 20:17
|
|
|
  After our adventures in the South Pacific we have returned to Africa. And now we've been appointed Supreme Commander of the African Expeditionary Forces. We now are solely responsible for the fight for Africa and relations with our Ashanti allies. As stated earlier, the UCS controls the main access route to West Africa. If we are to seize the resources there we will first need to break the UCS base in Egypt. This will be a long one, so everyone get comfy.  Once again we start with a rather pitiful base. I suppose it's nicer than starting with no base, but not by much.  The only piece of research available to us this mission is the double-barreled heavy cannon.  Our first order of business is defending our eastern flank. If you recall from the UCS version of this mission, it was quite easy to bypass the ED defenses and cripple the base. Since we won't have NEO on our side to turn the battle in our favor we'll need to rely on more traditional defenses.  While the wall is being built, I once again commission 3 Leviathan-class battleships. These will serve us only in Egypt so they'll be unnamed as the ED has no use for a river fleet.  I send a Grozny to scout the other bank of the Nile. The UCS defenses, while not as robust as in New Zealand still pose a significant threat to our operation. Making matters worse, the only viable crossing point is near the mouth of the river. A land-based attack will be very time-consuming indeed.  The LC are allying with us? Why couldn't they have done that before when I was sneaking around stealing their shields and whatnot?  The LC have a very well-fortified position (it's the same as in the UCS version of this mission). The base is in a natural valley, making assault impossible except through the mass of laser walls and towers northwest of the base. I doubt a UCS attack will do much to them. Additionally, the LC position ensures that we'll have control over the Nile crossing. We still will need to watch out for the navy and air force, but we can go cheap on land-focused defenses.  Our navy is ready, so let's see if we can dislodge the UCS from their position. Once again, we'll try and draw out the navy first.  We don't have the UFO to act as a scout, but the navy responds just as well to aerial bait. Our superior firepower will put them to rest with the Nile Crocodiles!   One cruiser sunk, another disabled and a third only a few hits away from sinking? I think we've won this sortie.  Following the destruction of their capital ships, the UCS escorts retreat back to the safety of the harbor.  But they can't outrun our long-range rocket launchers! The air force took out the Energy Transmitter powering the Fortress before the navy moved in.  The UCS counter-attack is intense. We've already lost one battleship, but the others are at full strength still.  poo poo. The UCS have managed to rebuild one of their cruisers. It also looks to have plasma cannons rather than rocket launchers. This could be an issue.  We've lost one ship, but the other was able to take it out with its lasers. Even in the late game, lasers are still a great weapon against ground troops. Now, let's make sure they can't build any more boats. And then we'll take care of this annoying shelling coming from the UCS towers.  There. No more boats! Yay no more boats!   With the naval threat neutralized and most of the interior defenses cutoff, the air force can quickly cut the power to the few remaining coastal towers.  While our attack on the UCS naval station was a success, it appears the bulk of the base is further inland. We will need a tank assault after all. Fortunately, our LC allies should be able to provide some assistance.   Meanwhile the air force and navy finishes off the last of the UCS naval outpost.  Too little too late, the UCS Gargoyles respond to our actions on the western bank of the Nile. Actually they spend most of their time flying around in circles, trying to destroy the rubble the UCS Power Plant left behind. Yeah I don't know either. With the western bank now in our firm control, I have the Gruz construct an underwater tunnel to connect our main base. From here we can build a resupply outpost, to ensure that our land forces are quickly resupplied. We can also build static defenses in case the UCS try a counter-attack to rebuild their naval base.   Well look at that. It seems as if the LC have beaten us to the punch. Nice job ladies! You've been the best ally we've had so far. Recall that when we were the LC, the UCS gave us pointless escort missions and got their robots hacked to kill us all the time. When we were the UCS the LC kept an overwhelming force in their base just so we could escort a single Moon. And now as the ED our ally is finally helping out. Why didn't this happen sooner!?   Of course, immediately following this I walk into a UCS trap. The towers cannot be hit by the UFO, rendering our most potent offensive weapon useless. Although I order a hasty retreat, the UCS Gargoyles still hound us. However with the Noise Generators jamming their communications they're mostly harmless and are quickly plucked from the sky by our Khrushchevs. We will need to find another route into the base  Hmm, what's this? It looks like UCS Harvesters are leaving the base via this open plain to the west of the UCS towers. I'm sure this large flat, unguarded expanse so close to the base is perfectly safe for us to use!    Well except for all the mines that is. Yes, for the first time in possibly my entire life playing this game I managed to run into a minefield, not notice and lose a whole bunch of tanks. Good job me. The land attack force will need to wait until I can send over new Repairers. A force this injured won't last long against the UCS Fortresses.Axeil: 0 UCS Robots: 1  gently caress you Minelayers. The UFO hovers and thus is immune to your mine bullshit. Axeil: 1 UCS Robots: 1  Since I lack a Minelayer of my own and really don't feel like building one and then waiting for it to get all the way over here, I have the air force try and soften up the guard towers to the east. With their lights off, no one can see them to shoot back so it goes rather well.  Huzzah! Our underwater tunnel is complete. Maybe I should build that Minelayer. It won't take 20 minutes to get to the battlefield now.  While awaiting repairs, the UFO and Khrushchevs pick off all the passing Harvesters. I hear Harvester sniping is good stress relief. It made me feel a lot better about my earlier blunder.  Finally, our Repairer arrives. Just a few minutes and then we can go and destroy the-  Oh.  Looks like the LC is already taking care of that. Welp. Head home everyone, our work here is finished!  I don't care how well-shielded you are, you're not going to be able to withstand three Thunderers parked right over your base. You've gotta try and ya know, shoot them. But the UCS look content to roll over and die. Meh. Made my life easier this mission.   While we wait for everyone to get back to the LZ, let's steal buried Egyptian treasure (again)!  Aw man, really? Do we really have to do this Marshal Romanov? It worked out so well. I built a few boats and bumbled around like an idiot while the LC did all the hard work. It's a perfect strategy! Do you know I haven't even seen half the poo poo I've been awarded during this campaign? I have 17 different apartments, at least 20 cars and also a random yacht. What good is a yacht in space Marshal? What good is it? Can't I just enjoy this stuff now and let the LC fight the rest of our battles? No?  Well then. Time for a sneak attack! The LC don't realize our traitorous intentions and are more than happy to let us walk right into their base. The fools.  I just stabbed you in the back and you're wishing me health and happiness? drat. Say what you want about the LC but they are polite even when betrayed and murdered.  Our sneak attack worked out quite well. The power to the LC base is down. Unfortunately, the LC mobile defenders are a bit too much for us. I send the UFO back to base for repairs and leave the rest to their fate.  The static defenses I built at the western Nile resupply base are coming in handy. See, this is what you had to do to save yourselves UCS. You need to actually shoot the enemy, not just hope that they'll get bored and leave you alone.  For Our Motherland! Yeah, all those tanks died. But they took out some more LC tanks!   We've (somehow) managed to repulse the LC attack. The tanks were trying to use our tunnel system, which simply could not be allowed. With the threat on the western shore completely eliminated its time to move the fleet into bombardment range of the LC base.  With the death of all our tanks, we'll need to rebuild if we're to hit the LC base. But as I showed you earlier, it's quite well-defended. How are we supposed to break in?  We'll get to that in a minute. First we need to kill a Thunderer.   Right then. How are we to get about killing the LC base? Or even getting in? Oh yeah. We can just use our battleships to annihilate their defense grid. Good thinking!  Well it was good thinking until the LC decided to send some Crusher hS units at us.  One ship down, and the rest don't have shields. Yeah I'm not feeling too good about this.  At least our new tanks are all ready though.  Your deaths will be remembered, unnamed ED Leviathan-class battleships!  The battleships may have died, but they cleared the way for our ground assault. Before we do any assaulting though, lets get rid of these annoying Thunderers.  There. Much better.  The defenses of the LC base are totally in shambles now. The defense was mostly predicated on funneling hostile units into a nice kill-zone where they were under fire from all directions. A handful of poorly placed Guardian towers won't replicate that.  The base is completely exposed to attack now. It's rather pathetic actually. Recall how tough it was for us to beat back the LC in the UCS campaign. All we did this time was add some boats and a UFO and suddenly it's a walk in the park. That's why it sometimes is worth it to research stuff even if you'll only use it for a mission or two.  One Solar Power Plant down, one more to go.  They're not even putting up a token amount of resistance at this point.  And with that their last structure/unit capable of fighting back has been destroyed.  Since there is no longer any threat, I order one of the LC Main Bases captured for any intelligence. Immediately upon capture the building began slowly self-destructing. It must be some sort of defense mechanism. However, we were able to recover some information regarding a "Project Sunlight." It is unclear at this time what exactly Project Sunlight is. We've assigned the Mobile Commandos (Mobile Task Force) the task of deciphering this mystery now that they're done in the South Pacific.   The LC stuck some mines way out here. It took me a good 10 minutes to figure out where the hell their last structures were.  The way to West Africa is clear! While the UCS have not been totally dislodged from Africa, this is a serious blow. We will now be able to use land routes to move in men and material. We no longer are beholden to the Ashanti for supplies in the region.  While waiting to return to base I received a curious joint memo from Igor and Major Minsk. MESSAGE FROM HEADQUARTERS ++++ TOP SECRET ++++ posted:
 poo poo! That idiot Igor must've finally realized he never got the shipments from India. Oh man this is bad, this is real bad. They'll execute me for treason for sure. Or leave me behind once the war is over. I mean, that message pretty much said "if you did it we're leaving you behind." poo poo, poo poo, poo poo. If only there was some way out...Wait. Didn't they mention another commander who was working with me? Yes, why I do believe that he was in charge of making sure the shipments reached their intended destination. I think I remember seeing him lurking about the Spaceport while I was fighting those cursed LC women and UCS robots in the trenches with my men. Why, I'm a good Dynasty general. See how I send my excess resources back to the Spaceport to allow more of our comrades to join us on Mars? In fact, I've granted all my General Staff tickets upon my personal evacuation ship. And I'm even allowing the common soldier access too provided he proves his...usefulness. I too would hate to see my ship revoked. These men and their families would have no other way off the planet. See, only a true Dynasty general would have such compassion. Clearly, the responsible party for the missing funds must lie elsewhere    I think this is the first mission in a while where all three factions have been on generally level footing. I think if the LC hadn't allied with us almost immediately the mission would have been far more difficult. (If you go north to the LC base instead of west to the UCS base at the start you'll be ordered to kill the LC too, negating any chance at an alliance. I know. It's what happened the first time I played through this mission for this update)  rest of briefing posted:Our forces must destroy this base. We can count on our new friends to assist us. Earth is starting to look pretty bad. We need to speedup our conquest of Africa before its too late. To that end, the destruction of this UCS base in the Congo forms the second point in their so-called "Triangle Defense" of North Africa. We just destroyed the first point in Egypt. At this time we are unable to hit the third point in Algeria. If we can destroy the base in the Congo then we need only destroy the Atlantic Fleet anchored at Algeria to cement our hold on the region.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2013 01:54
|
|
|
Heh! Is the ED losing some of your diverted resources thanks to efficient Soviet bureaucracy?
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2013 05:06
|
|
|
Axeil, you magnificent bastard... I know what you're doing. Poor Fedorov.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2013 08:34
|
|
|
Glazius posted:Heh! Is the ED losing some of your diverted resources thanks to efficient Soviet bureaucracy? If by effective Soviet bureaucracy you mean "I totally stole those resources to build more tanks and research weapons" then yes. I've forgotten just how challenging the last 5 missions of the ED campaign are. I played through the Congo last night and I had to restart twice due to putting myself in an unwinnable situation. It's a sign of things to come I think as The Moon Project and Lost Souls missions are generally more challenging than the ones in Earth 2150. Of course I've also handicapped myself by ordering the missions in such a way that I'll get the ED superweapon as late as possible. If I did things in a different order I could get the nuclear missiles early and then make the rest of the missions trivial. my dad posted:Axeil, you magnificent bastard... I know what you're doing. I don't know what you're talking about.
axeil fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Aug 28, 2013 |
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2013 12:54
|
|
|
Given that you've been doing this LP semi-in character that second quote there is kinda surreal.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2013 18:02
|
|
|
I'll be glad when you get on to the Moon Project campaign (and not just for the Best UCS Briefing Officer Ever). The problem with the weirdly-long ED campaign is that it overstays its welcome considerably, and the way the tech tree is stretched out to keep giving you things to research gets very boring.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2013 22:02
|
|
|
Loxbourne posted:I'll be glad when you get on to the Moon Project campaign (and not just for the Best UCS Briefing Officer Ever). The problem with the weirdly-long ED campaign is that it overstays its welcome considerably, and the way the tech tree is stretched out to keep giving you things to research gets very boring. I'm looking forward to The Moon Project/Lost Souls as well. Mainly because of all the new goodies you get. Thankfully there's only 5 ED missions left before the end-game and with one exception they're all fairly unique and interesting. I'm not sure if I should just transfer over the ridiculous bankroll I've got at HQ or try and do the endgame "collect all needed resources" missions normally.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2013 13:45
|
|
|
axeil posted:I'm looking forward to The Moon Project/Lost Souls as well. Mainly because of all the new goodies you get. Thankfully there's only 5 ED missions left before the end-game and with one exception they're all fairly unique and interesting. I'm not sure if I should just transfer over the ridiculous bankroll I've got at HQ or try and do the endgame "collect all needed resources" missions normally. Do the interesting ones and then just have Generail Axeil receive a "no more messing around, send the money" message from the Khan. I mean, we've already seen the final resource gathering missions, you'd just be using a different faction to play them.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2013 14:51
|
|
|
Hey all, I've been fairly sick the last two weeks with a flu or something so it's been tough to get the energy together to do an update. I thought I'd have moved on to the Moon Project by now. drat you body!  I'm hoping to get an update out tomorrow or Sunday since I've got all the screenshots, I just need to get enough energy to actually write things out. I apologize in advance for any weirdness my sleep-deprived flu-ridden self may inject into the update 
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2013 07:36
|
|
|
axeil posted:I apologize in advance for any weirdness my sleep-deprived flu-ridden self may inject into the update It's OK. The flu virus is injecting its DNA into your cells, so it would be thematically appropriate.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2013 11:58
|
|
|
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHLqbuO7bnA Yikes. Looks like we're really in the endgame now with all this lava everywhere.  The Ashanti have discovered a well-hidden UCS base deep in the heart of Africa. It appears they are planning to launch a counter-offensive from this location. This cannot be allowed. With our allies to help, this should be a simple operation.  We start with three different landing zones and a few tanks. There is one LZ in the northwest, one in the northeast and another in the southwest. The Ashanti have set up shop down in the southeastern corner. If we play our cards right we can completely surround the UCS base that's presumably in the middle of the map.  Our final land chassis is ready for research. The Ural is the ED's double weapon mount tank.  While we work on standing up our base I send the Khrushchevs south as a welcoming party. This alliance with the Ashanti has worked out better than any of the other alliances in the game. And the Ashanti military tech has improved by leaps and bounds due to our cooperation.   We haven't shot at you! This is all a big misunderstanding!Although apparently they found out we weren't planning on giving them spots on our evacuation ships. I think they were a bit peeved at that and probably got the UCS to promise them spots. What should've been a simple strike mission has now morphed into a struggle to survive, out-manned and outgunned by our enemies. The Ashanti will inherit all technology researched as of the time of this betrayal. So you need to take care of them very, very quickly or they'll tag team you along with the UCS and you'll quickly be overrun.  Fortunately our "welcoming" party still has a fair amount of firepower. I order them to focus on knocking out the power around the Weapons Production Centers. It won't disable the base but it will give us enough time to bring in the rest of the army and form a defense.  Never before has the ED army moved with such speed. We need to unload everyone faster than we ever have. The UCS and Ashanti will be counter-attacking any moment. A loss here will give them free reign to drive to Egypt and it is unlikely we can withstand and assault from both at once.  The welcome party has done their job. The Ashanti will not be able to build any modern tech tanks for a bit. I now order them to kill anything they can before they die. Their sacrifice for our Khan will not be forgotten!  As I suspected, the UCS have engaged us. The majority of the army has not arrived yet, but the UFO and heavy rocket fire from the Khrushchevs should be enough to drive them off.   Maybe not...Note the one Ashanti tank in the attack group. Had we not disabled the WPCs there might be additional Ashanti forces in this group.  We take brutal casualties but manage to drive them off. We are unlikely to survive another massed assault like this though.  To prevent a large front like that from opening again I have the Gruz build a wall, funneling any enemy land forces into a narrow pass.   The Ural is complete and I've decided to create two chassis: an energy weapon platform and a physical damage platform. The laser/ion cannon combo should be utterly devastating and chew through the shields of all but the toughest LC units in seconds.  With our forces having repaired and recovered, it's time to eliminate the Ashanti before the threat grows too serious. We are probably not perfectly equipped for the task at this time, but this is our last chance to hit the base while it's weak. I'd rather strike when we're both weak rather than when we're both strong. Besides, we have the trump card in our UFO.  With the UFO leading the attack the Ashanti have no chance. All that remains now is cleanup of the-wait what's that!?  The Ashanti have tried to flank us from behind. They must have sent some of their tanks into the UCS base. Fortunately my judicious use of Noise Generators ensures the flanking maneuver is scattered and disorganized. But they still can shoot at our utility units with impunity. We'll need to move in some units to defend our flank.  We arrive in the nick of time! The Ashanti flanking maneuver was actually a feint intended to draw us away from the true thrust of the attack: a renewed UCS assault on our base. Fortunately our defenders were properly positioned to counter the threat. With the Ashanti neutralized it's time to take the fight to the robots! For our motherland!  Dear god. Those base defenses are impenetrable. F-fall back! Everyone fall back!We will need to re-think this plan, a frontal assault is suicide.  Maybe the upgraded Ural can help.  The UCS attempt another counter-attack but with the wall constructed and the full might of the ED army present they have no hope.  The mountains surrounding the base may be high, but perhaps a small team of Groznys can cut the power and allow our ground forces the opening the need to penetrate into the base.  The upgraded Urals sport a bit more health and speed.  Nope! Looks like the UCS have finally learned how we beat their bases and have put up defenses along every corridor to the base's power supplies. We manage to take out one Energy Transmitter but backup supplies ensure the towers are still functional. It is a slaughter.  I rush the two survivors into the center of the base, trying to scout out anything I can. It looks like I was right and some of the Ashanti have fled into the UCS base. We'll have to take care of them later though.  Our first Ural is on the field, however as long as those defenses are up there's no point in deploying him to the front.   This calls for a more cunning flanking maneuver. I send the UFO to the unexplored northwestern landing site. There's a massive resource field here, so at least we won't be wanting for resources this mission.  Unfortunately the area is completely enclosed by the mountains. While this will make it very safe for a mining base, it won't help us in our attempt to flank the UCS.  Maybe we'll have better luck at the southwest landing zone?  Yes! There's a small pass that opens up into the center of the UCS base. It's still defended but the UFO might be fast enough to sneak through.  Even better, there's a second path with a direct line of site to a poorly defended UCS Power Plant. I order it destroyed.  There is a second Power Plant close by, however it is far better defended by the Large Towers and Fortresses on the cliffs.  The UCS have discovered the source of our attacks and have leveled the LZ. The UFO is now trapped deep behind enemy lines. We cannot lose the UFO! Attack the front of the base! Save the UFO!  Initial casualties are horrifying. Some tanks don't even make it out of the mountain pass. But the suicide attack seems to be working to a degree. The Urals are disabling some of the towers.  Yes! This is great news. The Thors have managed to make it to the rear of the defensive line and knocked out power to the southern static defenses. We're still getting pounded from the northern line but this might be enough to ensure the UFO can make it out.  Our last tank is destroyed. The final result of the battle is total annihilation of our army and airforce, but we managed to take out almost all of the defenses. The UFO can now escape.  But he'll destroy the power plant to make sure the UCS cannot rebuild their defenses here.  The center of the base is not defended at all, so the UFO may as well do some more power damage.  He's followed back by the remnants of the UCS air force but it's not enough. We've rescued the UFO (again)!  Up in the northwest corner I've got a mining operation going. We'll have more than enough resources to rebuild the army.  The UCS have sent over a radar scout. I'm not sure why, maybe they want to see what our new army looks like?  Why they were so interested in getting a look I'll never know, since we were about to move into their base anyway. With the defenses powered down its easy to move in.  One Jaguar is not enough to stop the UFO.  The UFO is able to take some punishment to knock out this Power Plant. The UCS are getting really good at defending themselves from our quick strikes.  Somehow in the chaos of battle we manage to capture a UCS Large Tower. I guess one of the Ural hLs disabled it and a repairer captured it.  Power is down to almost all the base defenses. The only remaining threat is weapons mounted on buildings.  Which aren't much of a threat at all. We've also managed to capture another UCS Tower.   Might as well power them up. Yes, if you capture buildings and give them power they'll work. You can't build enemy units like in Command and Conquer or Red Alert but it's quite satisfying turning the enemy's weapons against him.  The only thing left are these research cen-hey why is everyone suddenly blowing up? ... drat you mines!  Okay Minelayer go clear out those mines so we can finish killing these robots.   Good job! That's a hell of a lot of mines though. I'm glad I decided to actually build a minelayer to destroy them rather than just running all my tanks over them.  With the mines destroyed the cleanup is simple. Our alliance with the Ashanti is over though But with the capture of the Congo the UCS are running out of areas they control on the continent. All that remains is the naval base in Algeria and a few scattered outposts in Central Africa.   Our casualties are truly brutal. We lost more units than the Ashanti did and had about half the casualties the UCS did, even though we won this fight. code:  WARNING WARNING WARNING rest of briefing posted:The UCS has attacked and the base has been taken. Even now the enemy are analyzing our atomic rocket launching pads. You must destroy these launchers before the UCS can use them against us. The damned Ashanti! They're trying to get us from the grave. They must have told them about our plans to go nuclear in Africa before we wiped them out in the Congo. Now we've lost the base and the UCS are deciphering our launch codes. This is an extreme situation, one unlike any we have ever seen. If the UCS determine our launch codes not only will they be able to launch against all our positions in Africa but they will have the codes to all ED nuclear weapons. Our war will go from success to failure in an instant as our own rockets rain down on the Spaceport. There is no time to waste! We must deploy NOW!
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2013 18:46
|
|
|
Well, you know what they say - there's no planet so messed up that nuclear holocaust won't make it worse.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2013 06:52
|
|
|
Something about attacking a facility armed with nuclear weapons doesn't seem safe. Also regarding the techtree, are the tank mounted ballistic launchers in this version or added in an expansion?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2013 11:52
|
|
|
  Comrades, as I'm sure you know the situation is dire. We have less than 72 hours before our scientists estimate the UCS will have broken the launch codes. The Khan himself has directed Marshal Romanov to send his best commander to deal with the situation. The Marshal may have ordered the launchers destroyed, however if I manage to capture them intact I may be able to seize the launch codes for myself. It will be good to have a trump card in case this finance investigation turns ugly. Some may say the use of a national emergency to better oneself is unbecoming of an officer but to those people I say: "Have you honestly seem the stuff I've done earlier?"  We may need a heavy bomber to clear out the UCS defenses. I order our scientists to work on the Han heavy attack helicopter. It's more suited as a bomber than a true fighter.  The Gruz must immediately begin building a base here. The game provides a helpful/stress-inducing countdown timer at the top of the screen. If it reaches 0, well...just don't let it reach 0.   Right outside our starting location the scouts encounter 2 UCS Small Towers. They're no match for 3 Siberia Rs, but they do manage to kill 2 of them.  The sole survivor discovers a heavily fortified choke zone filled with towers and barricades. This isn't going to be an easy nut to crack.  Fortunately we can at least use the UFO to neutralize some of the towers in the barricades.  With the towers destroyed the way forward is a bit less perilous but we'll still need to get through those Fortresses and Large Towers. Cutting the power from the Energy Transmitter won't do enough as there appears to be a backup power reserve. Clever robots  ED News has a report on our new Han bomber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RRJWhI6JmQ Due to the need for high HP when hovering over targets I order the Han upgrade researched.  Thanks to the bravery of another scouting party I've found the location of the UCS's backup power for the defenses. Someone will need to sneak back there and destroy the power plant. But who?  Oh right. I have the UFO. But the UCS saw right through me and are building another plant even closer to the defenses. This cannot be allowed!   Well I guess if they're going to destroy their own power I should just let them. Good job guys! This will open the way and allow the rest of the army into the base proper.   It's rather easy to get in when no one is shooting back except for some Bat hRs.  Blast! Minelayers ahead! We'll need to clear the mines before we can continue our advance. The UFO is immune but I don't want to risk the rest of the army; we don't have enough time to rebuild if something goes wrong.  Once again in the chaos of battle we've captured some UCS defensive buildings. Unlike last time, these may actually prove useful.  The minelayer is on the battlefield. I hope the delay in clearing these mines won't make the difference  Our army pulls back to ensure no units are drawn into the minefield. The captured Fortress and Large Tower will provide cover while the Minelayer clears the field.  Putting a weapon on your Minelayer isn't necessary but it does let him take potshots at other Minelayers while he's clearing fields. The field was far smaller than I anticipated and so I'm able to give my army the go-ahead for the attack sooner than expected.  The UFO will do its usual duty clearing out the supply lines and power grid while the bulk of the army focuses on taking down the base proper.  These Harvesters are all that's left but we've found no silos. poo poo! We've less than 48 hours left, where the hell could they be? Were we given incorrect coordinates? A land-based approach will never find the silos in time. We'll need to take to the skies to have a chance here.  With the Han fully upgraded we now need to figure out how to drop bombs out of it. I thought you'd just open up a little hatch and drop them out but I'm not a weapons expert.  Time is short so only the most perfunctory of air forces is assembled. Two Groznys and a Thor won't be able to kill anything but they should allow us to spot where to go next.  We've encountered another well-defended position to the west of the destroyed UCS base. We'll need to level it to continue our advance.   Fortunately with the UCS base destroyed there is no backup source of power. Once the UFO knocks out this power plant the defenses fall dark. The helicopters have also finished their search of the northern area of the map. No sign of the silos up there, so they must be to the south.  The UFO and the small air force start taking shots at the powerless defenses while the army advances.  It looks like our hunch about heading south was right. There's more thick defenses here.  And the UCS have buttressed the main defenses with a series of Small Towers. Taking out the power won't be enough here, although Small Towers are really only a threat to our air units. We've still yet to find the silos, we must push deeper. Dodge those rockets comrades!  One helicopter survived the Small Towers and we finally have visual on the silos. The area is extremely well-defended by a network of Small Towers. This would be easy to clear if we were merely trying to level the base but given our own hidden objective, we'll need to take care here. And time is starting to wear thin, we must move quickly.  The UFO moves in to engage the towers before the rest of the assault force. This would prove to be a grave mistake.  While the UCS was not able to destroy the UFO, they have damaged it so heavily it is forced to withdraw for the rest of the battle. We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way.  While half the army guards the UFO while it is under repair, the other half successfully penetrates the first line of UCS defenses. Three towers may be a match for 2 Groznys but it is nothing to a group of my Khrushchevs.  The towers are clear. The army now awaits my authorization for the strike on the silos.  Reports from our engineers on the UFO are not promising. It will need to return to HQ for a full diagnosis, it appears its shields are not properly regenerating. One of the Taiga Repairer operators believes the heavy plasma fire may have knocked out the shield's regenerating function. Part of me wonders if the UFO's damage was so severe it will be unable to fully recover and will be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign. While the UFO withdraws I give the order to march on the missile base. Strict orders are given to engage the towers only. The silos are to be left to the Volga Ion Cannon unit.  Initial contact is successful. Our heavy rockets out-range the towers. With the first silo control center exposed the Volga is ordered to the front to disable to control center and allow for its capture by the supporting ZK Taiga Repairers.  Success! Now to clear the remaining towers and ensure the capture operation goes smoothly.  The bulk of the army is ordered to the eastern half of the missile base while the Taigas do their work. The first control center has been captured with 32 hours on the clock. It was fortunate we captured it when we did. Once they entered the building, our scientists determined the UCS were actually only about 3 hours from deciphering the launch codes. The imminent threat to the Dynasty neutralized, we just need to hang tight while we secure the remaining silos.  Research on the Bomb Bay finally completes just as we receive word the second control center is in our hands. The next upgrade to the Bomb Bay allows for more bombs, so research begins.  While we have succeeded, some idiot has destroyed one of the silos. I want his head on a pike before we get back to HQ!  ED News has a report on our victory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIGrwGiBwJk We are now the "Savior of the Eurasian Dynasty." Nice title. They don't execute saviors do they?  Of course, this savior also has a backup plan. Our scientists indicate it will take a few hours but with some repairs made here we will be able to determine the global nuclear launch codes. ED high command has been told the silos were destroyed, so they will not know until it is too late to stop us.  Once the repairs are complete, the Dynasty, nay the world, will be ours.   The AI doesn't build all that many units here so most of your kills will be on buildings.  rest of breifing posted:In order to lay our hands on these deposits, we must destroy the UCS Atlantic fleet. With Lesotho secure, the only thing stopping us from securing Africa is the UCS Atlantic Fleet. The time has come to scuttle it, just like its Pacific sister. Once it's on the bottom of the ocean we'll finally be able to cross the sea and penetrate into South America. This is our final mission in Africa, let's finish it!
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2013 02:35
|
|
|
Obligatory "fleet? This game has naval units?" comment.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2013 10:50
|
|
|
Glazius posted:Obligatory "fleet? This game has naval units?" comment. Hey come on, we totally saw awesome naval combat back in New Zealand! 
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2013 12:48
|
|
|
I like this LP and I like Naval combat. Too bad it's just so clunky.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2013 05:42
|
|
|
  This is it, the UCS's last outpost in Africa. The destruction of the Atlantic Fleet with secure Africa for the Dynasty and allow us to cross the Atlantic while there's still time. Africa alone does not have enough resources for the evacuation ship so we must ensure we can safely cross and wage an offensive in the Andes for the resources there. I think Marshal Romanov just ordered us to send the land here into the sea as well  Another Africa mission, another base that needs built. At least this time we'll get some resources to fund construction.  Thanks to our daring operation in Lesotho we have access to the ED nuclear launch codes. Sadly, we don't quite yet have the ability to put the ballistic missiles on the field, but we will once we've researched the Ballistic Rocket Launcher. It does exactly what it says on the tin.  Our scouts find some weak UCS resistance.  And then they find some strong UCS resistance. It looks like the UCS naval base is right on our doorstep. This might be a quick mission.  Thanks to some captured LC scientists we are able to get the UFO's shield generators working again. High Command has instructed me not to put the UFO in jeopardy so it will now only strike in safe situations. And nothing is safer than striking at an undefended power plant.  With the power down, the rest of the army can hammer the defens-oh what is that? Another god damned Minelayer?  We have a new solution to fix Minelayers   Of course we haven't quite figured out how to miniaturize our nukes. For now the ballistic rockets are just really, really strong rockets.  So sadly we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way for now  With the mines cleared and the power down we have free reign over the base. Unfortunately it looks like the UCS navy was in port. This...might pose a problem.  Stop shooting at me!   Given the...difficult nature of destroying naval vessels without some of our own and acknowledging our desire for a swift, cost-effective solution I think it might be time to test our new missiles.  Bye, bye navy! But where are the capital ships? It looks like we only managed to sink the escorts. Either way, with the navy gone it was easy to clear out the base.  The UCS attempted a counter-attack from another base. Who knew they had another base? And who knew that base had plasma bombs (note the shield damage to the Refinery). The only air-based weapon in the game that does shield damage is the plasma bomb. Clearly we are at tech parity with our rivals. I order all the shields upgraded in the event of an orbital plasma strike.  I also order further upgrades to our ballistic missiles.  The ballistic missile launcher can actually be mounted on a few units, unlike every other superweapon in the game. I've decided the Volga is the best platform for a mobile missile battery.  With the coastal base a distant memory I've had enough time to place all 4 silos for this launch facility. Each silo can hold one missile.  Ah, look at that. An aerial scout has discovered the UCS fleet to the immediate west of our base. Perhaps they are sad they didn't get a taste of ballistic fury?   One missile should be enough. One missile was absolutely not enough. Thankfully our heavy rocket launchers can reach these ships and sink them without too much of a problem.So, here's the deal with the ED ballistic missile. Until it's upgraded to the nuclear variant it kind of sucks. It only knocked off half of the health of that ship and it was a direct hit. Don't waste your money launching non-nuclear missiles at people, it won't work out well.  But since I'm utterly rich and demo-ing this new superweapon for you let's see what a full barrage does to a gargantuan defensive line.  There they go...   And there they-oh god drat it. We lost visual on the buildings. Someone head over there and see if we did any damage!  It will take almost 15 minutes to research the nuclear missile, but it is absolutely worth it.  The towers are unscathed but it looks like we knocked out some Energy Transmitters and a Power Plant. Fire more missiles!   Yes...yesss  The only thing left powering the eastern defenses of the base is this lone power plant.   4 missiles later...no more Power Plant! Hooray missiles! The Fortress still has power, but its easy enough to avoid.  This is confirmation that the UCS does indeed have plasma bomb technology. We'll need to harden our shields from here on and ensure we have good air defenses. Placing the entire army in the southwestern corner of the base is the best defense I can think of.  Remember how I said there's a cost for reloading bombs and superweapons? Watch this.  The cost to refill a standard ballistic missile is 2,000 CR. Nuclear missiles are 5,000 CR. If you're playing as the ED keep this in mind or you'll bankrupt yourself nuking everyone. The UCS and LC don't have to worry about the cost of refilling their superweapons so even though the ED's is superior it gets evened out due to its utterly insane cost.  Of course I don't give a poo poo about any of this and build another missile control center.   Just in time too! The nuclear ballistic missile is finished. Now we will rain atomic death down upon these robots! Oh and I guess research the bomb upgrades so we can have nuclear bombs.  I've built some helicopters to act as spotters for my nuclear missiles. But it's rather boring launching them out of silos. Why don't we try something more...mobile.  Yes, this should work well.  I'm completely out of resources. Filling all 8 silos with nuclear missiles is 40,000 CR plus the cost of actually building all the silos. It's over 50,000 credits when all is said and done. Don't go nuclear for a mission unless you've got the cash to support it.  The Volga BRL sits off shore, with a great view of all these Harvesters. Lets see how well nuclear missiles work.  It killed them all, and took out the towers too. Not bad. The nuclear bomb researches a bit faster than the nuclear missile. This will be the last tech upgrade in the entire game. I'm going to miss showing you all this screen   The UFO and spotter air force take out the few remnants of the UCS navy. With them out of the way we're clear to put the Volga BRL and spotters in sight range of the UCS defenses.  Visual confirmed, launching missile at target.   I wonder what kind of damage this missile will do?  The explosion took out every tower except that last one (which was damaged to almost no HP remaining). I love nuclear missiles     A combination of missile strikes and the UFO knock out power to the rest of the base. It's all clean-up from here on in.  And just for good measure I nuke some towers that had been powered off. You can never be too careful!  At this point I bring over some credits from the base and proceed to nuke everything I can see. There was a reason I amassed such a ridiculous amount of credits at the base other than not wanting to finish the campaign early.  Feel free to play the 1812 Overture in your head as all these missiles rain down on the UCS base.  One corner of the base still has power. Coincidentally, I still have one missile left.   And now the base has no power. We still need to destroy the last few structures, but the mission is over. We've wiped the UCS out of Africa and cleared the way to South America. Good job everyone!  No fancy new medal for this one Romanov? I'm disappointed, I enjoy having to attach pulleys to my legs so I don't fall over when I'm wearing all my medals on my uniform.  We have 78 days to finish the campaign. There are still technically 5 missions left, however I'll only be playing the next 2 as the final 3 are the same as they were for the UCS and LC, you just start in a different spot.    Nuking your enemies to death is really, really, really expensive. I spent nearly 100,000 CR on ammunition alone.  rest of briefing posted:A well-entrenched UCS base is blocking our path to South America and victory! Destroy it at once. We must resume our advance The base in question is actually a series of defensive outposts in the Andes mountains. We need to get through the pass they're guarding so we can have access to the remaining minerals deep in the mountains. The path will be perilous. If only we had some sort of bomber that could drop bombs on...oh wait. We do have a bomber that can drop bombs on the enemy. Next mission, get ready for Operation: Drop a Million Bombs on the UCS.  With this mission complete we only have 2 more missions left in the ED campaign and then we will be moving on to The Moon Project. Like Earth 2150, you can play TMP in any order so I'll let you guys vote on what campaign you'd like to see first. There are all new technologies for each faction and each one has a different take on the story. The events of The Moon Project take place at about the two-thirds mark of the Earth 2150 campaign, right about when the UCS-LC alliance breaks up. Each campaign is the same length with the LC spending the entire campaign on the Moon, the UCS spending all but the first mission on the Moon and the ED spending a little time on the Moon. Voting runs from now until I put up the last update for Earth 2150. Please vote using the below images along with faction name to record your vote.Eurasian Dynasty .png) Lunar Corporation .png) United Civilized States .png)
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 01:52
|
|
|
Considering it's called "The Moon Project", I vote for Lunar Corporation..png)
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 04:39
|
|
|
I want to see helicopters on the moon so Eurasian Dynasty please.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 09:02
|
|
|
I guess I'll be voting for UCS then. Also I prefer to mount the ballistic missile launcher on the ural chassis, twice as fun.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 14:51
|
|
|
Eurasian Dynasty, comrades! Let the capitalists have their weakling technology- we shall overcome them with our hearts of iron!  
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 15:17
|
|
|
Poil posted:I guess I'll be voting for UCS then. UCS! Robotae Uber Alles!
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 20:15
|
|
|
Because of the way the Moon Project's plot works, UCS! The ED campaign in Moon Project is completely different to the other two and more of a side-joke thing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 21:10
|
|
|
Good thing I barely remember anything about the campaign. Nor can I remember what new stuff was added on the moon and what wasn't until the lost souls. I really liked that when you set up a skirmish battle, multiplayer or not, you can set the AI's to any race, random or random but not one specific faction. Like for example if you set up three of them you can have one ED and one LC and one that's either ED or LC. Also you set up AI difficulty per player instead of some dull global setting. Just praising the game and trying to get a new page so it stops lagging the crap out of my browser. Oh, yeah. If you want to pull your hair out in frustration when skirmishing, build a headquarter and set it to handle research for you. It is painfully stupid. Hope you don't actually need AA for quite some time!
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 21:38
|
|
|
Poil posted:Good thing I barely remember anything about the campaign. Nor can I remember what new stuff was added on the moon and what wasn't until the lost souls. Not as bad as if you set the AI to do your units for you. Hope you like 20mm chainguns on everything! Even better is having it do structure upgrades, in which it gives everything 105mm cannons or lasers so you get killed by air. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 27, 2013 23:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 07:33 |
|
|
Ah, this is why they let you get so much cash as the ED - they're expecting you to build all the nukes.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2013 07:49
|
|