Two Dockworkers spawn on the left.



One of them jumps into the water and kills himself, while the other one walks to the edge and seems to reconsider it.



And then leaves...



...Before coming back with a boat. Good thinking, Dockworker dude.

It automatically spawns two floating rubber platforms and a couple of Slower Supporters to stand on them. Istina and Podenco.



The boat snakes its way through the two slowers before getting wrecked by Indigo. Who as you may recall is a Mystic Caster who charges up multiple attacks at once and causes bind. Incidentally, I noticed two things about her in this mission that I hadn't really considered when I did her write-up: first, when she fires off a charged attacks, that actually counts as attacking multiple times, greatly increasing her chance of inflicting bind. Second, since her talent won't let her attack bound targets, this means that she will stop attacking entirely and and start charging up again until the enemy's bind wears off, and then she'll try to fire multiple shots to bind them again. It's actually a pretty cool combo, more interesting than Iris at least.



Anyway, when the boat is killed, the rider is dropped off right where it was. Which in this case is underwater, so he dies pretty quickly.

You can deploy platforms for 3 DP anywhere on water, and any operator can stand on them.



The interesting part about this is that there's no distinction between ranged and melee units when they're on the platforms, meaning you can block with ranged units if you really want to (all ranged operators have 1 block). Or I guess more generally adds a huge amount of flexibility to placement.



Anyway we tank them in the middle and pelt them with arts damage.

Battle Video. Battle Music.



Here's our map. It's kind of weird, with a lot of idiosyncratic enemy paths. Although the first group of grunts just head straight from the lower left to the top left.



A basic formation. Rafela can stop anyone trying to go up, as well as deal significant damage to anyone trying to walk in front of her. Eagle-eyed viewers will note that I'm recording this on practice mode; basically I wanted to make myself look less stupid show off more of the strategy, rather than brute-forcing it like I did on my first clear.



Rafela's range is necessary because all the divers spawning in the lower left will instead take this path. But between Rafaela and Beanstalk they will all die before they reach the water, and maps with deep water never have tides so I don't need to worry about them going invisible. Actually, the tidal maps and the deep water maps have almost completely unrelated gimmicks since it's impossible for our operators to get submerged. It's kind of weird, like we changed the game entirely halfway through. The only connection is dunking enemies in the water.



We place our first platform up on the top lane.



And Specter will stand there, which will be important later. Incidentally, if an operator dies or retreats while on top of a platform, the platform disappears with them for some reason. This is a little annoying since you have a limited stock of them.



Finally we get our first motorboat enemy. Boats are even tankier than Dockworkers, and naturally cannot ever be submerged. They don't suffer any penalty on land either: they're completely amphibious. Anyway, these particular ones will take a really, really long route doing two laps around the edge before going into the middle exit. Given the tutorial I think you're expected to use slowers and whittle away at them as they move? But slowers are for cowards.



Boats are completely different enemies from Dockworkers and have their own special skills. They take up 3 block value to block, meaning most people can't block them at all and even a Defender or Centurion (AOE Guard) can't block anything else at the same time. They also deal damage to anyone they run over, although it's not too significant unless you put squishy ranged units in their path.



They also deal their ramming damage when they first hit someone who can block them, which lets them effectively get 2 attacks off immediately. I didn't realize this for a while so I kind of overestimated their ATK and overcompensated. In fact, it's quite easy to keep them tanked forever with any healing at all, and unlike Dockworkers they won't stun their blocker. Which honestly makes them LESS threatening? So it's often a good idea to keep the boat alive so you won't have to deal with the Dockworker immediately.



Not that it matters here, where I can easily take out the boat with Eyja and Magallan, and then the Dockworker falls in the water and drowns.

In unrelated news, I also put a line of platforms on the top lane behind Specter, forcing the Divers out of the water so I can shoot them with Eyja earlier (and also they deal less damage while on land). It's kind of funny to me that a diver is somehow compelled to climb up onto any flotations devices in their path, rather than swimming under it.



And another boat, same as the first.



For the final wave, we have another group of divers going from the top right all the way around the bottom, which wastes my time but they're no match for Rafaela and Beanstalk.

Clarste fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jan 23, 2022

Clarste fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Jan 23, 2022

Clarste fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Jan 23, 2022

Battle Video. Battle Music.



Here's our map. The exits are in the lower left, but the enemies have to get all the way to the right to take stairways that'll get them there. I see no reason to let them do that.



Normal enemies will spawn in the middle entrance, while boats will spawn at the left. The boats will do a little lap in the middle for some reason. Anyway, I want Specter down early to block them. And Ptilopsis to heal her/generate more SP.



This is a good place for Rafaela since she can block the top water lane while also helping Beanstalk take out the land lane. ...I guess you could say there are three lanes here, although it's a little odd because enemies can hop in and out of the water wherever they want.



I probably should've put Rafaela down before Ptilopsis though, since one of the grunts made it past Peacake. Specter is holding steady and dealing approximately zero damage to the boat. They have like 1000 DEF, which is a lot.



But even with the grunt that made it through, there's still plenty of time to take care of it. Here, you do it, Bena. You're the cheapest.



Eventually the grunts starts creeping down into the water too, which is bad because Specter can't block anything else while she's busy with the boat. So I put down Chen in front of her. Technically it is bad to put a platform underneath the boat, because the Dockworker will fall out eventually, but I don't care because quick-draw slashes are cool. There, I said it, I'm not ashamed.



But more practically speaking, Eyja is probably a better way to kill boats.

Also we get a new enemy in the top left corner! Caster Speedboats are like casters, but they're on boats! Yay! Or... jetskis? Unlike Dockworker Motorboats, they don't have any different abilities from ordinary casters, this just lets them move freely on water and gives them a 2nd health bar. Also they deal 50% more damage while on a boat for some reason??? Actually, they are pretty annoying and one of the more dangerous enemies in the set, BUT they are also just casters on boats.



The casters take the top lane, meaning this is a job for Rafaela. Things actually start to look dicey when her Corrosion meter pops (from the Tidal Casters shooting her), but:



Always Be Reaping. That said, having used her I would say she has significantly less survivability than Utage. Probably because she doesn't gain attack speed when at low HP. This means she relies a lot more on her S2 to keep herself alive.



Sure, Maggie, you can help too. Why not.

Battle Video. Battle Music.



This time we're on a boat, so the water is moving relative to us.

Basically this works exactly like rescuing civilians in chapter 8. I assume this represents Lin saving the hostages, but for some reason the boats are carrying boxes of cargo, and also they start outside the ship and are coming in. Probably best not to overthink it.



Anyway, the Transports start in range of two enemy spawn points that will create divers to shoot at them. That's bad, but even if I do nothing they'll make it safely to the goal. For the first round anyway.



For various reasons, it's better to build a defense line further forward in this map, so I'll be building my great wall of rubber platforms now.



Rafaela goes here so she can hit this diver while he's standing off to the side. The divers like to stand still and poke at you for a long time in this map.



New enemy type! Unmanned Explosive Boats. Much like the spiders of old, these guys explode when they die. Although they don't do as much damage so it's less game-warping. However, they also deal significant Corrosion damage, so with bad timing they can be quite dangerous. They also slowly deal damage to themselves over time, meaning they are guaranteed to explode, and in fact I don't think it's possible for them to reach the exit alive? That said, they also have a lot more HP than the spiders did.



Oh no, a transport's running right into the exploding boats!



Luckily it's timed to be a cool action movie setpiece and not something you need to deal with. If you think about it, this is actually a Die Hard movie.



Just Chen being Chen.



The wall is complete. The idea being that if we stop all the ranged enemies/bombs here, all the transports will be safe.



And perhaps more importantly: if a boat dies over moving water, the enemy that pops out will die instantly. My guess is that the rule is something like "if you would take any damage from being submerged on this map, you instead die instantly." Because the divers survive just fine. You can also push enemies into the water if pushers are your thing.



Then some other stuff happens. I dunno, it's not very interesting past this point.

Clarste fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Jan 24, 2022

Clarste fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Jan 24, 2022

Clarste fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Jan 24, 2022

Clarste fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Jan 24, 2022

The End.



Oh hey there Ernesto. Looks like Chen ended up recommending you and your sister for Rhodes Island!

And that was Dossoles Holiday! A story that wanted to be both a silly action movie and also an epilogue for the Lungmen characters of the main story. I'd have to say it succeeds more in the former than the latter, mostly because it wants to talk about specific plot points from chapters 6 and 7, but can't do so directly because those chapters are not required to unlock the seasonal event. In that sense, this particular mobile game narrative structure of constantly introducing new events was poorly suited for this sort of story. Also for some reason Rafaela just disappears after her scene with Lin on the boat, and doesn't get her own epilogue except a passing mention that Ernesto's going to take him with her to RI (implied).

That said, I do like all the characters here, including the new ones, and the story is pretty basic but serves nicely as a mirror to the events in Lungmen, thus forcing Chen to reflect on what she's done and what she'll do going forward. Just like in Lungmen, she was torn between loyalty to an unjust public order, and the possibility that abandoning it to aim for something better could make things even worse. And Lin worked as a nice foil for her, even though they basically never interacted before other than one phone call. I like the way their arc resolves as "we can be better than our parents." And they're just a fun duo in general.



Also, and this isn't quite about the story, but I came into the event thinking that it was very dumb that Chen got an alt that wasn't her cool biker outfit showing that she wasn't a cop anymore, but just a dumb swimsuit costume. But after reading through the event, I've warmed up to it since it sort of represents her commitment to no longer drawing her sword when she's still unsure of her own justice. So this is her transitional phase, finding her purpose while shooting people with a super soaker. Speaking of which, here's her theme song. Also I love her cap and jacket, too bad she loses them in her E2 art.

Anyway, we've got some extra space here so I might as well introduce some new operators:



Tequila is a 5* Liberator Guard, a brand new archetype. Basically they are guards who can't attack or block when they're not using a skill, but gradually increase their ATK between skill usages, up to +200% after 40 seconds. So they're very strong, but only for short bursts. He's basically a budget Silverash, which is nice for an event freebie.

Ernesto is a Perro (dog) from Bolívar. You know who he is. I will say that Tequila is a pretty interesting choice of codename for himself, given what it represents to Dossoles and Bolívar and his own family.

Talent (Waiting Game): When Tequila is attacked while not using a skill, he deals 20% of his ATK to his attacker as arts damage. This is nice, although since he can't block it only works against ranged attackers. And isn't especially strong.

S1 (Decisive Action): Increases his ATK and ASPD. Cool.

S2 (Esoteric Bladework): Expands his attack range to just a little smaller than a ranged guard, triples his ATK, and each attack hits up to 2 targets. Can be overcharged (wait to collect double the SP) to hit 3 targets and double the duration. Can be deactivated early to start charging up again sooner. This is probably the skill you would use on him 90% of the time. Like I said, it's a budget version of Silverash's Truesilver Slash, but considering how useful that is, it's pretty good. Probably.



We rolled the dice for Ifrit, and got Mostima instead. I'm sorry for changing the outcome with my latent psychic powers. She's my favorite character though. Mostima is a 6* Splash Caster (same as Dusk), which means she has all the usual weaknesses of that archetype. High cost, short range, small AOE, and damage that doesn't quite justify all the other limitations. That said, one of her skills is, in my opinion, good enough to make her worth using even if you assume that she does literally zero damage the rest of the time. Although she's still overcosted.

Mostima (Mastema?) is a Sankta (fallen angel) from Laterano (gun Vatican). She's an old friend of Exusiai's older sister, and together they have a lot of stories about the mischief they used to get up to in high school. But one day she was sent off to war along with Exusiai's sister, and she was the only one who came back. As a fallen angel. While she will never, ever talk about what happened (even ignoring the fact that it's a classified military secret), it's well known that Sankta fall when they point their gun at their own kind. She then left Laterano and started working for Penguin Logistics as a long-distance transporter, spending most of her time on the road between mobile cities, absolutely alone in the wilderness for months at a time. Just the way she likes it. She also seems to work as a secret agent for Laterano, using her travels as an excuse for other sorts of field work. Despite her surface-level friendliness, she's refuses to let anyone get close to her and has no desire for companionship or love. She's abandoned her government-issued gun (a musket) in favor of dual-wielding staves, which is Rad.

Talent 1 (Skill Aura - Caster): When deployed, all casters gain SP 40% faster. This is actually pretty cool if you have a caster-heavy team (and we have Dusk, Eyja, and potentially Amiya), although less cool if you have Ptilopsis since it doesn't stack. Her 40% is still a little better than Ptilopsis's 30%, at least.

Talent 2 (Subjective Time Dilation): All enemies within her attack range have their movement speed reduced by 15%. To be honest I find it hard to even tell that this is happening, visually, but I guess theoretically it gives you ~17% more time to pelt them with ranged attacks.

S1 (ATK Up γ): ATK up. But gamma.

S2 (Lock of Shattered Time): Stuns (time stops) all enemies in range for 6 seconds and deal slightly boosted ATK damage to them every second. Actually, that's a little misleading: what it actually does is re-apply a 1 second stun every second, meaning it traps enemies who enter it after it starts. This is her good skill, in my opinion. An on-demand AOE stun that also deals significant damage since it more or less triples her ASPD and Splash Casters have relatively high base ATK. It also has a fairly short cooldown, when you take into account her talent, so you can usually have it available for every single big enemy wave. And even without the AOE, a 6 second stun makes it a good bosskiller too; you can get a lot done in 6 seconds of complete freedom. However, some later bosses are immune to stun.

S3 (Key of Chronology): The Lock and the Key. Her attack range expands greatly (a little bigger than Eyja's volcano, except she doesn't shoot backwards) and all her attacks become ripples that hit everything in her range for slightly boosted damage and knock enemies back slightly. It also triples the effect of her slowing aura to 45%, which is pretty huge for a 100% uptime AOE slow. That said, it has a very long cooldown, doesn't increase her dps very much, and the knockback is very small and won't work on anything you care about anyway. I don't want to call the skill WEAK exactly, but it's extremely situational and definitely not a "kill everything" button like Silverash or Eyja.



Bagpipe is a 6* Charger Vanguard, same archetype as Vigna. IE: A single block vanguard with high stats that generates DP per kill and can retreat for a full refund. We bought her from the shop. She's pretty cool. She has a theme song too.

Bagpipe is a Vouivre (wyvern) from Victoria (cat UK). She's an old friend of Chen's from the Victorian Royal Guard Academy, and after graduation she became an officer in the Victorian Army. In her Japanese dub, she speaks in a rural, northern dialect—not to mention her name—which I can only assume means she has a thick Scottish accent (the translators did not even attempt this). She's basically a peasant farmer from the sticks who managed to do well at the officer's academy. As a professional soldier, she's trained to lead as part an army, which gives her a very different perspective from the small-squad tactics used by Rhodes Island and its mercenaries. That said, something happened that caused her to leave the army, and she joined RI after Chen recommended it to her. She had the same negative feelings about the Infected as most people prior to arriving, but has managed to adjust quickly after working with them. In contrast to her professionalism in combat, she has a laid-back personal life and was voted #1 easiest person to get along with in Rhodes Island (tied with Grani).

Talent 1 (Precise Reloading): Bagpipe has a 25% chance to increase her ATK to 130% and hit 2 targets when attacking. Never hurts, but it's hard to rely on random chance.

Talent 2 (Martial Tradition): When Bagpipe is on the squad, all Vanguards start with 6 addition SP. Note that she doesn't have to be deployed, just on the squad. This allows other Vanguards to use their skills 6 seconds earlier, which at the very least accelerates your gameplan by 6 seconds for the entire rest of the map. And an additional 6 seconds for every extra Vanguard you're using. This can let you field high cost operators way before you're expected to. And you don't even have to deploy her.

S1 (Swift Strike γ): Increases her ATK and ASPD. Yawn.

S2 (High-Impact Assault): Short cooldown, auto-activated, can store up charges. Triples her ATK for the next hit, and also hits twice. Considering it can store up charges, this basically means anything that gets close to her immediately dies, unless it's in a huge wave. Which also reliably gets you DP, and she can even proc her multi-target passive. I believe this is her bread-and-butter skill for general use, but I've never actually used her before.

S3 (Locked Breech Burst): Slows her ASPD, increases block value to 2, doubles her ATK and DEF, and each attack hits three times. Big damage. This is what you use if you want to kill heavies or bosses, which she can totally do. It's a little trickier to use though since you can't just drop her in the middle of the action, she has to charge it up for a while.

Next time: Dossoles extra stages!

Clarste fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Jan 27, 2022