Part 57: Highlights Reel: Enigma as Sami
Highlights Reel: Enigma as SamiApologies for the delay. A bunch of Spacechem and Total Annihilation happened, thanks to their respective LPs. Things are going to continue to be slow here for a while , but I figured I'd better work on this highlights reel today. Though saying that, this drags out for such a long time that the only "highlights reel"-y thing about it is the lack of arrows.
So, we're heading back to Enigma, and I'm going to be trying out Sami here. This turned out a lot tougher than I expected it would back when I blithely said I'd have a go at it.
For those keeping count, this is on the Operation Orange Star save, and it directly precedes the coming mission. We should get to see some of the problems we'll be facing when we use Sami in The Final Battle (though to be fair, the only real problem is that she isn't Max).
End of day 1, and a similar start to the main run of this mission. I mess up a bit here, really: should've put the infantry in the APC and the mech in the T copter. This way round I lose some of the "leapfrogging" ability that the extra move speed of infantry gives me.
On to day 2, and here we see where Sami (or anyone who isn't Max, really) can suffer on this mission. We can't one-shot Sturm's sub with ours - so not only does that slow things down, but our sub takes counterattack damage.
Day 3, and although we finish that sub off this turn, our sub's now down to 5HP (because Sturm attacked it on his turn). We've grabbed the base and port, but now we've got to do the bomber tango.
Tank messes up a recon, and other things move forward. Left my mech horribly exposed to that tank, though...
Yeah, owch. Oh well, life goes on. Mech retreats, rockets and medium tank take on Sturm's capturing infantry and tank respectively.
Battleships and bombers, oh my! (if this were Max, that battleship'd probably be dead by now).
Not looking good, my medium tank's been smashed down to 2HP, the middle infantry is under siege and that bomber is roaming around unchecked. This was around the point where I considered giving up.
But courage! Rockets and artillery take down Sturm's medium tank (unsurprisingly, there'll be far more use of indirects here with Sami than there was with Max) and I take another stab at grabbing the city. Hopefully this time the APC will attract Sturm's fire.
Other general movement of stuff, as the sub knocks the battleship down to 4HP.
Gotta go fast. Relatively speaking.
If nothing else, we can use it to have our 2HP mech kill a 3HP tank. Although we had luck on our side (random fact time: an opponent's defence has an effect on the luck damage you can do as well as the regular damage. So AW1 Campaign Sturm's weakened defence increases luck damage too).
Getting a couple of HP of damage in on the rocket launcher with our medium tank, and moving some indirects up to shoot the rockets. This means it can shoot them too, naturally. But with a 2-to-1 advantage, we should be in the clear.
Finishing off that battleship.
Day... 7, I think? Easy to lose track of time with these things. Anyway, Sturm's rocket launcher decided to take on my capturing mech rather than any of my own indirects. That's great for the indirects, but it is going to make grabbing the base harder. Luckily, we've got Sami. So we've already grabbed 15 of the 20 capture points, and with a 2HP mech we can grab 3 more this turn, leaving only two to go.
First, let's blatt the rocket launcher.
Then this arty can kill the 3HP AA and my 3HP infantry can take its place, protecting the mech's flank from that infantry unit. I also join the two 2HP mechs together for some extra insurance.
AA attacks bomber, and the sub returns to port for some healing, fuel and ammo.
Basically it for this turn.
Day 8, and we've successfully grabbed the base.
But only just. The 2HP medium tank went down to light tank fire, and Sturm could have spoiled my day if he'd actually attacked with that infantry unit instead of moving it up next to my mech and then not firing. AIs .
I'll take it, though. Arty and rockets work together to take down that infantry unit, and the tank that finished off my middie for good measure. That fighter goes down to missile fire, too.
3HP infantry takes down 2HP infantry, AA finishes off bomber and I build a lander to go grab that airport. Should be fairly easy to avoid the submarine, I hope. Something I should point out, though - Sturm's built a cruiser from that port. This could be awkward for our own sub...
Day 9. Sturm's lost his big guns for now, but he's continuing to harass me.
Nope. One rocket takes on the AA while my own AA smashes up that mech.
The other rocket launcher and the 4HP arty take down the infantry, and the full-health arty moves up there out of the way. Which lets the mech come down to finish off the AA.
Lander heads off on its journey, but I've made two mistakes here. Can you spot them?
Yep. I didn't move that 9HP AA, which left it in range of a rocket launcher. And parking my sub in port wasn't enough to take it outside of cruiser range.
I build a cruiser of my own, thinking about taking down Sturm's remaining sub and fighter. Turns out that that cruiser's in rocket range, though.
Better send an APC up to for the cruiser. Bringing all the indirects in close as well (hoping that the APC will tank for them, too), while up in the north I attack an infantry unit with a mech.
Day 11, and Sturm's last turn didn't go great for us. The APC got one-shotted (should really have anticipated that, given Sturm and it being on a road), leading to my arties taking some nasty punishment from their opposite numbers.
Rockets and AA get some revenge.
Cruiser heads out to tackle the fighter and submarine, and I start capturing the airport. Meanwhile in the south, rocket launchers start to mass up.
That cruiser's in for a bit of a shock, though. Sturm's submarine decides that, yeah, he can take me. And to be fair, dealing 3HP of damage to the cruiser and only getting 5HP of damage done in return is not too bad. It's also going to slow my takedown of the fighter.
Meanwhile, Sturm tries to storm the bridge with a mech in a T copter.
Doesn't really work out for him. His AA falls to rocket fire, too.
Taking on the fighter now rather than finishing the sub. We need clear airspace for our airport to be useful.
Let's get a medium tank. Sami's aren't the best, but they're better than Grit's and it'll still do above average damage thanks to Sturm's defensive penalty. It just won't be cutting through him quite like a Max middie would.
Day 13, and it's time for more doubling. Not that my mechs will be doing much, but the little boost for the other units should come in handy.
Down goes an AA.
Infantry and APC take a beating, too. I move the 2HP artillery up to act as bait, keeping the rocket launcher pinned in place so my directs can deal with it next turn.
And the fighter's down to 1HP.
The 2HP arty does its duty.
Sturm attacked my new B copter with his 1HP fighter, but the airport healed up any damage.
And after using my rocket launcher to take out... something (memory can be a fragile thing), I've got a clear route through to Sturm's rockets.
Cruiser deals with the fighter, and the B copter goes out and picks a fight with Sturm's cruiser. Comes out of the engagement fairly well, considering. Note that I essentially sacrificed it to the missile launcher, though.
Back on land, the medium tank pulverises that rocket launcher, and a mech and AA take care of the transports.
Once more we play Orange Star's national pastime of moving everything up.
There goes the B copter .
Day 15, and time to try and get inside the range of this second set of rockets. Although there are plenty of other threats around. But hey, what's the worst that could happen?
Elsewhere, my bomber takes care of the damaged cruiser, while my own cruiser puts down the sub.
A ton of movement.
Hmm. Sturm built another cruiser, while his AA trashed my mech. And now that AA is stopping my medium tank from reaching the rockets. I guess that is kind of the worst that could've happened.
Oh well. Bomber attacks the new cruiser, and I produce a second one.
Middie can't quite kill the AA. But Sami's souped-up infantry manages to chip 3HP off the rocket launcher, which is pretty good going.
It's also enough to charge up Double Time again.
My infantry use their extended range and mountain-climbing ability to take the fight to this mech over the mountains.
More unit movement.
Sturm's got some nasty moves, though.
Nasty, nasty moves.
It's not the end of the world though, we've still got some good units around here.
Although our AA isn't quite enough to kill that infantry hiding in the forest. Dammit, fellers.
I mean, we've got another rocket launcher that can finish it off, and then our middie can go through and destroy the 4HP rocket launcher easily enough, but it's the principle of the thing.
Bomber leads an assault on this beachhead, while I send a speculative mech in on a lander.
Sturm's cruiser has other ideas, though. Nasty damage, there.
The mech's okay to begin capturing, though. Although there's something I didn't notice at the time.
Yeah, that battleship's going to leave my mech in quite a bit of pain.
Oh well. The missile launcher over here's down, thanks to the combined efforts of a rocket launcher and an infantry unit. I've also built a battleship.
Keep movin', movin', movin'.
Battleship gets its attack in .
Day... 19, I think? Yeah, this one's going to be rolling for a while yet. We're pushing ever closer to Sturm's base, though.
But hey, we've got B copters, bombers, a battleship... we've got this covered.
Plenty of action as rockets smash AA, medium tank takes on APC (... down to 1HP again. Dammit, Sami) and my 4HP bomber starts chipping away at Sturm's battleship. It's found a nice spot inside the range shadow of the missile launcher, and importantly no AAs can hit it unless the missiles move away.
Yet more moving of stuff.
My mech couldn't complete the capture, unfortunately .
Hmm, CO power bar's nearly full.
A couple of rocket attacks will sort that for us, and we get yet another Double Time. At least they're frequent.
Gratuitous 3HP-mech-taking-down-1HP-AA shot.
Fighting in these mountains is tough, but I think we're making headway.
The main army continues to grind forwards. Light tank down, battleship at 3HP and I'm moving my own battleship in for some area denial work.
Day probably 21, and there continues to be a pitched battle in the mountains. But my rockets should be able to solve that this turn.
First though, let's keep working at Sturm's coastal defences. Bomber finishes off battleship, my own battleship takes a big chunk out of the missile launcher and the medium tank gets rid of that 7HP AA.
We have a bit of a problem now, though - I'm now in medium tank range. APC rolls up for decoy duty (also, as promised, the rockets work their magic over in the mountains).
There was a 4HP mech trying to make its way over to my HQ. The infantry that I've been spamming to try and give me a non-abysmal technique score deal with it fine, though.
Bomber moves down, and I fumble and accidentally build a B copter instead of another bomber Oh well, I'm sure we'll find a use for it.
. But an APC can only do so much decoy work.
Sturm's middie rolls through and gets the AA behind it.
But you know what? We've still got our big guns. We can cope.
Sturm's front line evaporates under bomber, battleship and medium tank fire.
More moving up.
Although this infantry gets punished for its bravery.
Rockets? Yeah, those are going to do a lot of good at this stage.
Or not .
Making sure Sturm's bases are all blocked up. With him unable to produce any more units, we should have this wrapped up next turn.
He's going down swinging, though, dealing some damage to my medium tank.
The 24th and final day.
A few attacks later, we've only got one arty to finish off.
Bomber can't quite seal the deal, but that's what B copters are for. And that's a victory with Sami on Enigma!
... start singing showtunes. And nobody wants that to happen. But yeah, although it was a victory, it was a messy one. No particular area let us down, but between Speed, Power and Technique penalties it was enough to drag us into a B.
Next time on Advance Wars, I finally stop stalling and get on with Operation Orange Star. Tune in for...
... Max and Sami getting pissed off!
... and Grit and Drake chipping in some troops to help us out! (The in-game reason why Max and Sami are playing with blue and green colours in The Final Battle). Fun times.