Part 42: Interview 21 - “Desperate Struggle” (Or, “The Sonja Is On The Other Foot Now”)

Interview 21 - “Desperate Struggle” (Or, “The Sonja Is On The Other Foot Now”)



Alright, Commander, let's get started. Today, we're faced with a looming fortress.

This should be exciting. First Sonja map of the campaign. Is she still pretty much the same? Good in fog and useless everywhere else?

She does indeed have an easier time in Fog of War, though she also has more powerful counterattacks, which is useful.

Interesting... let's see how that works out for her, then.



Yes. Somewhere. My reports say that… Eeeek!

Sonja! Are you all right?

Ouch…

Blood! Sonja, you’re bleeding! Quickly! Prepare for a transfusion!

Ah, here’s the old Kanbei. “Act first, act later, never think”.

YC Soldier: Sir?

Fa-Father! Stop! I just fell down. Please stop overreacting.

But I’m worried. If anything ever happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.

Oh, good dad. Best dad.

…Are there even any other dads in Wars World?

Uh… not to my knowledge. Red, I guess?

I knew it! You should be in the rear. It’s much safer there.

Ooh! I am a Yellow Comet CO! I can handle this responsibility! I’ll prove it to you!

Convenient “enemy spotted” dialogue coming in 3… 2… 1...

But, Sonja… I…

Wait! Father, look at that!

Hm? That… That’s…

A huge enemy stronghold? When did that get there?

And there it is.

Now for Sonja to prove herself, then.

How dare they build that monstrosity on our sacred soil! It is time to clean the rust from my blade!

Patience, Father! First, we need to reconnoiter.

I always forget that the word “reconnoiter” exists.

I know I’ve asked this before, but are you sure you’re a military tactician?

But…

Intel is the most important part of combat. Rushing blindly to war just increases your casualties. Leave this to me.

Never! It is too dangerous.

I think you should let her go.

Oh, he’s here too.

Sensei? I don’t…

Sonja is a respected CO in the Yellow Comet Army. Believe in your daughter, Kanbei. It’s the right thing to do.

Hmmm… Sonja, are you truly ready for this?

Did Kanbei forget that Sonja almost singlehandedly beat Orange Star in the last campaign?

She did?

Well, she successfully kidnapped all the COs, anyway.

One hundred percent! I’m your daughter, aren’t I?! I’ll prove I’m worthy to command.



This is gonna be fun.

Here's the map, by the way.



Oh this looks horrible. Fog, big fuckoff fortresses, and like two forests near Sonja's HQ. The bases are close to her, though, that's useful.

Um. That's because Adder's entire army is pre-deployed.

WHAT.

Whilst you mull that over, here are the deployments for today.

TODAY’S DEPLOYMENTS
Lysander, Infantry
Talora, Infantry
Minerva, Infantry
Aymil, APC
Casildo, Tank
Sofia, Tank
Leopold, Tank
Andromeda, Anti-Air
Khepri, Anti-Air
Fadel, Anti-Air
Vanessa, Recon
Iago, Recon
Ellis, Recon
Rose, Medium Tank
Kyril, Medium Tank
Braddock, Medium Tank
Dymek, Rockets

CASILDO
Age: 20
Personality: Hopelessly flirtatious soldier.
Proficiencies: Battleship, Rockets, Tank

LEOPOLD
Age: 36
Personality: Gentleman and warrior.
Proficiencies: Mech, Tank, Neotank

FADEL
Age: 25
Personality: Quiet and humourless.
Proficiencies: Cruiser, Anti-Air, Missiles

ELLIS
Age: 29
Personality: An aspiring artist.
Proficiencies: Sub, Recon, Rockets

BRADDOCK
Age: 31
Personality: Amateur stock broker.
Proficiencies: Bomber, Medium Tank, Tank



Looks like I need to smash those 8 cannons protecting it. If I can do that, the fortress will be powerless, and I’ll win! It’s either that or capture their HQ…

Heh heh… It seems that this terrain has our friends in a quandary. Not that it matters. Whatever they decide to do, they can only fail.

CO Adder of the Black Hole Army, I presume. I should have known Black Hole was behind this!

Who the hell else would it be? They’re the ones that fucking invaded you. “Man, we’ve been invaded by Black Hole. Oh, who put this massive great fortress here? I can’t even hazard a guess at which country could’ve done this.”

This fortress was built on the strength of the Black Hole nation. It will never fall to the likes of Yellow Comet. Once I’ve taken care of things here, I must destroy this map. It wouldn’t do to have these fools showing up at our hidden lab…

You will be spectacularly unsurprised to hear that despite the map taking over 20 days, Adder does not, in fact, destroy the map.

Typical.

Now then, let’s see what skills this foe possesses.

ACO Rose of the Yellow Comet Army walks into the strategy room of the Yellow Comet HQ to find a stressed-looking Sonja muttering to herself whilst she moves small figures around a map of the nearby territory.

"Are you ready to begin?" Rose asks.

"I... have a plan." Sonja murmurs. "But losses will be heavy. I can't see a way through this. I must be missing something; I need more intel."

Rose’s eyes flash, and for a brief moment, she is filled with the indomitable spirit of my dude - the spirit of the greatest tactician in Wars World.

“There is a way.”

“To minimise losses?” asks Sonja, turning back to the map. Rose shakes her head.

“To negate losses entirely.” Rose replies, and Sonja’s eyes widen in surprise. “You and I are the best strategists in Yellow Comet; we cannot be outmanoeuvred, and we cannot be defeated.”

Sonja nods. “You’re right, of course. Explain your strategy to me, and let’s show Adder just what we’re made of.”

In the back of Sonja’s mind, however, she’s still got one question: how does Rose plan to beat Adder without losing a single soldier?



Alright, now the map properly begins. Are you ready, my dude?

Sure, why not. Let's see what bullshit Adder's got for us today. Surprise rockets, probably. It's always surprise rockets in Fog of War.



So, with Adder having a full army already, Sonja doesn't have much time before the enemy is knocking at her door. As such, she deploys Lysander and Talora. They'll be capturing nearby properties. And then it is Adder's turn.



Plane noises. I heard plane noises. Bombers? When Sonja doesn't have a single pre-deployed unit? That's so unfair.

How do you know they’re bombers?



Sonja has no aerial units, and there’s no airports. A fighter would be literally useless against her.

Perceptive as always, Commander.



Next, Sonja deploys Casildo and Sofia.



I'm very curious as to what strategy Rose and Sonja are planning. I suppose it depends on what Adder's got lurking in the fog...



Sometimes it's better to not know. Anyway, Lysander and Talora start capturing their properties.



Casildo heads north and Sofia heads west; both of them will be installing themselves in the nearby woods, so that they may surprise the enemy later.

And we have an anti-air friend!

That's Andromeda - she's been deployed for the bomber.



Right, the bomber. It can't be already here, can it? This might be the most unfair start to a Fog of War map I've ever seen - and I've seen a lot of unfair Fog of War maps in my time. _{fucking Wings of Victory...}



Well, I can see you have plenty of emotional baggage to work through today. The properties are now captured, supplying Sonja with a little bit more money. She'll need every penny she can get.



Casildo and Sofia are well-hidden now, though. I'm really nervous as to what Adder's got. It can't be anything too strong, right? Sonja's only got a couple of units.



She has more now, as she deploys Vanessa in the recon and Khepri in the anti-air.



Adder's been silent for five days now. His troops must be getting close by now.

There's a tank up there - they're almost ready to approach Sonja's units.

"Vanessa, if you could please move north-east of the port; you should reveal an enemy bomber." Sonja says, her commands coming through crisply on the transceiver.

Vanessa grits her teeth as she says "Yes, ma'am, on the move now."

"Remember what we talked about before the battle." Talora says, and Vanessa nods, preparing to drive.

"Fine. I'll listen to her commands for now. But just this once!"



Oh, fuck, there's the bomber.

"Oh fuck" indeed, my dude.



Thankfully, Andromeda is in range to thoroughly weaken it. Not only that, but she can reduce the counterattack damage by attacking from a defensive base, which is useful indeed.



The rest of the troops organise themselves like so, and Sonja deploys a third tank - Leopold.



The bomber's gone for Vanessa, I see.

"Are you kidding me?! She knew this bomber was going to come for me - I'm the weakest vehicle in range. That bitch!"

"Maybe she didn't know..." suggests Andromeda, but Vanessa isn't having it.

"Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable."



And this copter, hidden in the fog, goes for Talora. She would have been destroyed if the bomber had gone for her as well, so it's good that Vanessa took the hit instead.

Yeah, dividing the enemy's attention is crucial. Otherwise they just gang up on your units and destroy them.



Speaking of ganging up, Adder's units are now out of the fog.

Oh my god. Sonja's gotta deal with all that with her motley army?

Correct. As you can imagine, getting through this without losing a unit will be nigh-impossible.



Mm. If Sonja just loses one or two units, she should still be fine. This really doesn't look fun, though...



Khepri was just in range of the copter, so she can take that out immediately.

That's a dangerous play, though. She's in artillery range, and those two tanks will eat her alive. Sonja's only got two tanks, so no matter how she does this, there'll be enough units with enough HP to take out Khepri.



You're right; though her priority at the moment seems to be taking out the enemy copters, and that's not surprising. They're troublesome for tanks.



OK, so Casildo is opting to weaken the artillery. Makes sense.



In doing so, he's revealed even more units in the fog.

Are you kidding me? What the hell kind of map is this?



It's not a fair map, that's for certain. Sofia, meanwhile, attacks one of the enemy tanks, safely out of the range of the artillery.

And there's still one tank on full HP. Khepri's chances are not looking good right now.



Even more units, oh my god. Does Adder have like 50 units hiding in that fog?

I don't know, but he does have rather a lot. This opening group, however, are the most troublesome, because options for dealing with them are limited.

Yeah, you're pretty much forced to lose some units here. Still, I trust Rose and Sonja. They won't lose more than a couple.



Sonja arranges her troops like so. There's no way to form a defensive wall, so all she can do is hope that the enemy aren't too aggressive.



Well, at least some of Adder's soldiers are content with just capturing property.



As predicted, though, the artillery turns its sights on Khepri.

"Hey, guys! I'm feeling a little under the weather, but we gotta pull through, OK?" she says.

"Miss Khepri, are you sure you do not need backup?" asks Leopold.

"I'll be fine! I trust in Sonja and Rose. Hold your positions, everyone!"



Yeesh, is Talora going to be OK?

She survives. The bomber only has 3 HP, my dude.

Trust me - a bomber with any amount of HP is a threat.



The enemy tank goes for Lysander, meanwhile.



Oh, my god, the weakened tank can't get to Lysander. So it went for Vanessa instead... they survived! They actually pulled it off!



Don't speak too soon. Sofia is about to take a full mech attack to the face.

Oh, fuck, Sofia-

I'm just messing with you. She scrapes by on 2 HP.



They actually did it! Now they just need to actually defeat all these threats in one turn, but that shouldn't be too bad. Huh... even I couldn't see a way to get through this without losing units. Sonja and Rose really are a force to be reckoned with.



First, Andromeda puts an end to the bomber. The aerial threats on the first part of the map are gone now.



Oh, and Talora and Lysander can join, putting them back up to 9 HP. Nice.



Casildo can take care of the weakened tank, just about.



And the newly-deployed Leopold gets the jump on the other tank.

The tanks are definitely the biggest issue here. Sofia's not got the strength to finish off the tank, though, and I don't fancy anyone else's chances against it right now... hm.



Sofia does have a shot at survival, though - she hides amongst the trees. Hopefully the enemy will fail to find her there.

Let's hope so. Hang in there, Sofia.



And the rest of the units are just sat on the cities. They'll get defensive bonuses and passive healing, which is handy. Not that the recons can do anything except wetly slap at them a bit. I don't think they'll even do damage.

A medium tank comes driving out of the Yellow Comet north-west base, and turns its sights on the foggy battlefield ahead, the gigantic Black Hole fortress looming above it like a spectre of death, gigantic cannons just waiting for an unlucky unit to come into range. This sight might strike fear into the hearts of most ordinary soldiers, but Rose Kuroda, ACO of Yellow Comet, is no ordinary soldier.

She salutes her troops, and all of them can feel the visible relief pervading the battlefield; they feel safer when Rose's medium tank is at their back. Vanessa has no love lost for Sonja, but her respect for Rose is real, and she salutes back.

"Ma'am!"

"Just 'Rose' will suffice." Rose replies. "Troops, continue fighting. Once we've dealt with Adder's opening gambit, we'll be dividing our forces and attacking the fortress from the north and south. Everyone prepare for a long and arduous battle."

"Rose! Yes Rose!" the troops reply, saluting.



Dialogue. I know what that means...



Indeed, it's Adder's Super CO Power. His units have unprecedented levels of movement now.

Here come even more nasty surprises, then.



Surprise infantry! Not quite as threatening as surprise rockets, but the last thing we want is to let Adder capture a base.



"Vanessa, hold out!" shouts Talora as the enemy tanks open fire on her. Vanessa grits her teeth and maintains her position.

"If Sonja thinks these enemies are going to beat me, she's got another thing coming. I... will... not... LOSE!"

The enemy tanks' attack ends, and Vanessa's recon is still standing firm, despite the bullets that ripped through it. Vanessa's eyes glint with satisfaction as she stares at the tanks ahead of her.

"And now you're surrounded by my powerful friends... a strategic misstep of the worst kind, Adder."



That was relatively harmless as CO Powers go, honestly.

As I stated, the beginning of this map is the most difficult. At this point, most of Adder's ground forces are gone. The only ones left are recons and mechs, neither of which pose a real threat to Sonja's units.



She survived, but Vanessa isn't in good shape, so she retreats to a base to heal. She's well out of the way now.



And Casildo can finally get rid of that enemy tank. Whew, that opening gambit was almost as rough as Sturm's... this map doesn't fuck around.

It's not quite done yet. There's still some enemy mechs and recons left, plus that base needs to be recaptured before Adder starts using it to deploy more dangerous units.



To deal with the encroaching fog, Sonja deploys a second recon, Iago.



So... let's see just what we're dealing with, shall we?



Damn, that's quite a lot of motherfuckers. Thankfully, most of them are harmless - the recons don't hit very hard, and the mechs have low movement, so they can be outmanoeuvred.

Quite. Still, they do need to be dealt with before Sonja can approach the fortress.



She begins proceedings with Khepri - the priority is recapturing that base, naturally.

Anti-airs are pretty good for that - the tanks can deal with the recons whilst Khepri murders the enemy infantry.



Casildo does indeed curbstomp an enemy recon.

All he needs to worry about is that mech, but there's more than enough firepower to delete him.

Why do you say 'him'? There's two mechs there.

One of them's in the middle of capturing, and Black Hole infantry would prioritise capturing property over seeing the birth of their child. He isn't going anywhere.



Makes sense. Well, Rose can easily make a fool of the mech that isn't busy.



Leopold finishes off the infantry. Something else will be produced there next turn, but Talora/Lysander are on their way to capture it.



"Alright, everyone, I'm here! I'll do my best. Where do I need to be?" says the mild-mannered voice of Kanbei's oft-forgotten nephew, Kyril. Rose's voice comes through the transceiver.

"Once these dregs are eliminated, we'll be dividing our forces. Sonja will command the south group - that's you, Kyril. I'll take command of the northern group."

"Right!" Kyril replies. "Let's go, everyone!"



The enemy mech proceeds to miss the birth of his child, as it were.

Pfft. Nice.



Adder produces another mech, but otherwise, does nothing.



Well, time to teach him the error of his ways, then. Khepri can easily crush that mech.



Quite, though in an effort to conserve firepower, Sonja sends Iago to finish the mech off. The tanks are better-off attacking the recons and suchlike, rather than wasting their attacks on a half-dead mech.



And he reveals-

Even more fucking dudes

Indeed, though again, these ones aren't threatening either. Sofia, having healed a little bit from the properties nearby, gets back into the fray by attacking this recon.



And Andromeda can finish it off, though in doing so...



Another recon down south. Man, Adder really likes recons, apparently.

He has a deep and sensual love for reconnaissance units. Uh, anyway, Rose attacks the mech.



And Leopold can finish it off. Wow, after the incredibly rough start, I think Sonja and Rose have almost got a foothold on this map.

Let's hope they can maintain it.

But you already know what happens! Do they maintain it?



That would be telling. Anyhow, Casildo opts to bother the remaining recon in the middle area, and bothers it most of the way to death.



I'll bother you if you don't tell me how this map ends.

Be patient, my dude. It is a virtue, after all.



The enemy recon that was discovered down south goes for Vanessa, who had been healing up damage and not bothering anyone.

What a dick.

You'll also note that the remaining recons joined up. That, if anything, has only made them an easier target, though.





And so, for the third time, Khepri attacks an infantry unit on this base.

Second verse, same as the first - I'm guessing Iago finishes it off?



Quite. Sonja has a solution for the continual spawning of people from this base, however.

You don't need a "solution". Just stick a tank on it until Lysander/Talora get there.



That, uh, was her solution. Next turn, Lysander/Talora can begin getting the base back from Adder.



Casildo finishes off the mech, and with that, almost all major threats have been dealt with.

Wait, what about the recon attacking Vanessa, like, right now?



Oh yes. Kyril kills it.



New friends! Minerva, Aymil and Rocktey Dymek, I take it?

Quite. Aymil, as an APC, will be useful for a lengthy map like this. Not just for carrying infantry, but for refuelling other units, too.



The rest of the units, with the frantic first few days now mostly dealt with, remain in position. Rose heads north, as she'll be beginning the northern assault on the fortress.



And this loser gets his CO Power again.

At least it's not the Super CO Power.





WOW, that was useful, Adder.

Most of his army is stationary - it will only attack once Sonja's units move into range. So his CO Power isn't useful for times such as this...

What an understatement.



The new recruits begin moving forwards - Dymek is bound for the trees to the west, where he'll be able to provide some crucial support. Vanessa, meanwhile, rejoins the rest of the army at the forest.



Rose makes a new friend.



Andromeda just casually murders the hell out of a transport copter. I think it's safe to say that the opening gambit is well and truly done, now.



Especially since Lysander/Talora finally reached the base. They begin capturing; Adder now has no way of getting new troops, and most of his army has been decimated.

Bombers, tanks and copters, all eliminated by this tiny group of soldiers. It's almost inspiring.

Well, only one bomber. There's another one.

What



"Leopold, Iago and Khepri - you'll be heading north with me. Everyone else, you're taking the southern route with Sonja. Best of luck." Rose commands, directing her soldiers. "...See you all on the other side."



Down there, you'll see a third recon. You can never have enough recons in Fog of War, so meet Ellis.

Hi, Ellis.



Before we end things for today, the units will need to get into position to begin the second half of the map - Rose needs to get rid of those rockets in the north, and Dymek needs to catch up to the southern squad.



THERE it is.

You expected this?



As I suspected. That artillery disappeared into the fog after the initial round of combat, and I'd been wondering where it got to. It's here, apparently.

"Whoa! Yoooo... lads, I need backup now, get someone down here to deal with this!"

"Hmph." Rose says. "I had already foreseen this artillery's reappearance. Casildo, you should be in range to deal with it."

"Sure am, gal. Hey, Dymek, you'd better watch this. Lemme show you how it's done, and maybe later tonight you can show me how it's done." Casildo says, grinning as his tank thunders towards Dymek's location.

"Was he... coming onto me?" asks Dymek, and Leopold sighs into his transceiver.

"Do not listen to that wastrel. He will engage in flirtation with anybody and anything... most troublesome, so he is."



Well, Casildo was able to deal with it, anyhow.



And with the enemy threats dealt with, Minerva can hop into Aymil and get carried into battle, hopefully discovering the property where the lab map is hidden.

Oh, right, there's a map. I'd almost forgotten about that.



As Minerva gets dropped off, Talora/Lysander successfully capture the enemy base. Adder has no more options to produce units.

Nice! Things are certainly turning round for Sonja and Rose. I really should have expected this kind of perfection from them. They're both excellent tacticians.

Equal to you?



Hm. Well, I've beaten Sonja several times. Rose, though... I don't know. I'd say we're equal; if I ever get a chance to spar with her, I suppose we can find out for sure.

Speaking of Rose, she opens fire on the enemy rockets. None of her northern squad can move in until they're dealt with.



Leopold is here to help, though. He can move in safely enough.

Not quite, my dude; you're forgetting about the cannons around the fortress.



There's a change of plans, too. Andromeda heads north to join Rose's group. The latest intel suggests that the bomber is up north, so two anti-airs have been sent to deal with it.

Urgh, I hate surprise bombers. That's the worst possible thing to hide in Fog of War, right up there with rockets.



Still, the southern squad is almost ready to begin their part of the assault. Though we've yet to see the worst of the surprises.



These cannons don't have the same huge range as the other ones we've seen, but they still have solid range - this one strikes Rose for 3 HP.



And we meet a surprise anti-air who goes for Vanessa.

You know what? Surprise anti-airs are bastards too. Surprise anything is annoying, to be honest.

It seems like your problem isn't the units in Fog of War, but Fog of War itself. Also, it's Sonja's turn again.



God, you're right. I fucking hate Fog of War. Even Sonja, whose whole schtick is "hey I'm good in Fog of War", can't make it fun. I'm not even the one partaking in the battle and it's still pissing me off!

...Minerva starts capturing a property.

Good for her.



Since Minerva is otherwise busy, Talora/Lysander hop into Aymil now to be transported.



Vanessa retreats to heal-

Again. She's really getting the short end of the stick on this map.

Again, yes. This allows Kyril to mostly destroy the anti-air. It survives on 1 HP, unsurprisingly.



Up here, Andromeda takes out the APC, which is rather crucial.



...Ah, if Rose moves to the position that the APC was in, she'll be out of range of the cannon, right?

Exactly. It survives on 1 HP, unsurprisingly, again.



Leopold can finish it off, but...



He's directly in the cannon's sights.

Oh, wow, yeah. That range is massive.



Ellis helps illuminate the nearby area, whilst Dymek continues on his way. He's going to hide in the trees nearby.



Welp, poor Leopold took a big hit there.



Fortunately, Adder didn't have any other units nearby. It's now time to set up for the second half of this map.



Surprise rockets!

Indeed, surprise rockets. Thankfully, Ellis saw them in advance; those rockets are the reason Dymek was deployed. He'll be taking them out from the relative safety of the trees.



Minerva misses the birth of her child. It isn't very useful, since Sonja doesn't need more money, but it's something to do, I suppose.



Sonja seems to subscribe to the My Dude School of Military Tactics, as she deploys another medium tank - this is Braddock.

It's a very prestigious school. Our motto is _{lemme just google something quickly} "vos can nunquam satis medium obterere".

I have a horrible feeling that translates to "you can never have enough medium tanks".



Rose begins her attack on the fortress' cannons, doing moderate damage.



Leopold helps, but just... less.



Andromeda moves into the forest, scouting for enemy troops, whilst Khepri catches up.



And Casildo finishes off that annoying anti-air.



Quite so. The assault on the fortress is about to begin for real. And with one last turn of nothing happening...



Man, Adder is useless. He must have something in range.

Apparently not. And so, we shall pick it up from here next time, my dude. The conclusion to this map is not to be missed.

The two girls are doing well so far. I'm intrigued to see how they handle this big fuckoff fortress. Until next time, Ruin.

Goodbye, Commander.

***

Part 21 Additional