Part 46: Interview 23 - “Orange Alliance” (Or, “A Very Tiny Opening Gambit”)

Interview 23 - “Orange Alliance” (Or, “A Very Tiny Opening Gambit”)

Good day, my dude. Would you like to join me for another map?

God, yes. Where are we going today?



It's time for the lab mission - the quicker they get Neotanks, the better, really.



If my intel is accurate, they’re working on a new type of tank in there. Calculating from Adder’s skill and the speed of our advance… I estimate we have 18 days to capture the lab or rout our foe.

Oh, boy, a time limit. And a generous one - this is gonna be a long map, isn’t it?

Just a bit, yes.

If we can do that, we might be able to get our hands on the weapon specs.

I see… We’ve no time to tarry then. Hm? It looks like the battle’s started without us.

Well, that’s new. The unexpected ally, I presume? Orange Star?

What? Who in the world could it be?

It’s Black Hole on one side, but who are they fighting?

My enemy’s enemy is my ally… Or something like that.

Prepare to advance! We must not be late!

It sounds like they’re already late, to be honest.



Sensei will be handling this map. Speaking of, here are the deployments for today.

TODAY’S DEPLOYMENTS
Yellow Comet
Issam, Infantry
Talora, Infantry
Aymil, APC
Lysander, Transport Copter
Kyril, Anti-Air
Khepri, Anti-Air
Peregrine, Bomber
Sofia, Bomber
Braddock, Bomber
Matek, Bomber
Rose, Battle Copter
Andromeda, Battle Copter
Minerva, Battle Copter

Orange Star
Lloyd, Battleship
Landon, Battleship
Elvin, Battleship
Rin, Cruiser

Oh, Orange Star, I absolutely called it. Wonder who's leading them?

MATEK
Age: 34
Personality: Witty and dry.
Proficiencies: Bomber, Battleship, Fighter

LANDON
Age: 29
Personality: Expert battleship operator.
Proficiencies: Battleship, Cruiser, Missiles

ELVIN
Age: 26
Personality: Cheerful but naïve.
Proficiencies: Sub, Cruiser, Battleship

Well, you'll find out in just a moment.



Hm... Landon and Elvin are usually bote units, and the mission name is Sea of Hope. Are we finally going to get a full-on naval map?



Uh, almost?

Meh, it's close enough. The Orange Star ships are stuck in that section over there, though... still, battleships have amazing range. That lab, though... there is a lot of things protecting it.

We do have Sensei, though, and there's several airports around. Some bro copters will sort this map out.

"Sort this map out" or "fuck this map sideways"?



Oh, it’s Sami! Thank god, I thought it was going to be Dipshit for a moment.

We have to get this information to Yellow Comet.

Those troops… They don’t appear to be the enemy’s. Combining our resources just may give us a chance.

Sensei is, of course, being coy. He could take these foes with one hand tied behind his back.



And with that, let us begin.



Sensei begins by deploying Issam and Aymil on the left - they'll be going for the airport up there. Talora has been deployed on the right.

There's a tank up there, though. Talora's gonna take quite a big hit.



Thankfully, help is at hand. Up here, there's quite a lot of threats that need removing, so Lloyd starts by targeting the nearest rockets.



Ah, and Elvin can damage the tank. An infantry on a property should be able to survive a 2HP tank quite easily.

Indeed. With not much firepower left, however, Landon goes for a different plan.



Instead of attacking, he moves here. All of the enemy rockets are in his range, but he's not in their range.

Applying pressure, that's good. Chances are that'll force the rockets to retreat out of his range.



Rin places herself out of the range of the damaged rockets - they'd only do a tiny amount of damage to her, but there's a reason for it.

Oh?

You'll see - it's Adder's turn now.



First things first, his units capture some nearby property.



The enemy rockets plink at Elvin for damage equating to about "fuckall".

That's good. Rockets are legally allowed to plink, it's when they one-shot stuff that I get upset.



This tank decides to try attacking Talora, who sustains a single point of damage and brings the tank down to 1HP.

She's got the spirit of Dave if I've ever seen it. Tankslayer! Tankslayer!



Here is the important thing, though. All of Adder's units are on their way north to convene at the lab - all except the enemy battleships, and more important, the bomber and battle copter.

My god, it's an opening gambit. A very small one.

Small, but dangerous. Sensei has virtually no army and only one of Sami's units can attack air units...

...Rin, in the cruiser. That's why she needs to be kept out of rocket range - she needs all the HP she can get for fighting that bomber and copter!

Precisely.



Alright, well, there's not long until the opening gambit lite hits. Let's see how this goes.



Aymil prepares to carry Issam.



Indeed, and he gets dropped off right outside the airport.



Sensei, meanwhile, has seen what's coming and makes the necessary preparations by deploying Kyril.

One cruiser and one anti-air are not going to be able to take a bomber and a bro copter safely. How on earth are you supposed to beat this without losing anyone?

It's not looking good, is it? Casualties can be kept to a minimum, though.



Talora attacks the tank and actually defeats it.

Oh my god, it was a perfectly executed Ultimate Disrespect!

A perfectly executed what now?



The Ultimate Disrespect! An incredibly rare and dangerous tactic, you basically kill a tank with an infantry unit. Only Dave has ever managed to pull it off before.

You're definitely making that up.



Anyway, back in the real world, Lloyd moves next to Landon to continue putting pressure on the enemy rockets. Landon, meanwhile, targets the enemy mech and reduces him to 1HP. You know, just in case he tries anything funny.



Elvin, meanwhile, finishes off the rockets.

"Whew! I didn't think it was going to be quite so combat-heavy from the outset!" Elvin calls above the spray of the waves around him. Lloyd, manning his own battleship, nods.

"Aye, I knew trouble was brewin' soon as I saw the number of Black Hole units around here. My question is, where the hell are Yellow Comet?"



Well, that wasn't bad. Still got the bitty little gambit coming up though.

Quite. The trouble has only just started.



Urgh. Especially since this dick's got his CO Power. He gets it so frequently, it's infuriating.



Yeah. Expect to see it a lot on this map.

Sighhhhh.



The mech makes a start on this property up here. He, um, is going to be a while.

Pfft. He's got twenty days, I believe he can do it.

My dude, the map is only eighteen days long.



Thankfully, even with the extra movement, nothing was in range. So now it's Sensei and Sami's turns.



Issam's making a start on the airport. That's brave, when there's a bomber very close by.



Talora is also capturing an airport. Kyril is moving into position, meanwhile - Sensei has a plan.

I am deeply concerned.



He deploys Khepri over here, who will be part of the plan.



That's all for now. The rest of the opening gambit is up to Rin.

No, no, you didn't say it right. It's the opening gambit.

Uh, sorry. The, uh... the opening gambit?

Oh, perfect, there we go. Carry on!



Whilst you were distracting me with how you pronounce that, we missed it. Rin's attacked the bomber, and weakened it quite a bit.

But that's-

"That's crazy!" Lloyd says. "Rin, you've left yourself open! Even if the bomber chooses to go for someone else, with the damage you've got, that battle copter will do you in!"

"There'th nobody elthe capable of taking care of it right now!" Rin calls back. "If we don't stop the enemy here, then Thenthei- Sensei's fortheth will be overrun!"

"But-" Landon says, the words catching in his throat. "You told us that Dave said-"

"I know." Rin replies, looking up at the bomber and battle copter, circling her tiny cruiser slowly. She suddenly feels very small and vulnerable, but she closes her eyes and smiles. "I know."



Rin...

She's a brave girl. A very brave girl. Anyhow... Lloyd attacks the enemy APC that's currently in Khepri's way.



And Landon goes for the tank up here. I would like you to make a note of this, it'll be important later.

I am almost definitely going to forget.



Sami decides to use her CO Power. It won't help much, since she has no infantry, but it'll provide a small defensive bonus to her troops.



It won't help. A fully-equipped battle copter can shred a weakened cruiser, and that's not even considering the bomber, too.



"Rin." Elvin says. "It's, uh, been an honour serving with you."

"Thank you all. Tell Rothe I thaid- said hi. I'm sure she'd like to hear that."

The team fall silent. Back at Yellow Comet HQ, the CO and ACO in charge of the map are watching with bated breath.



Heh. He's still trucking along, capturing this property.



You said a long time ago that APCs used to be one of the most valuable distractions for the enemy. Although they don't work anymore, Sensei is an adaptable old man - infantry mid-capture are now the most valuable distraction, and this weakened bomber can barely scratch Issam.

How's he going to distract the copter, though?

That, I'm afraid, Sensei cannot do.



"I'll do it." Lloyd says over the transceiver as the battle copter flies down, a salvo of missiles prepared to fire at Rin. "I'll tell Rose you said hi."

"Thankth, but..." Rin starts.

The missiles launch with no warning, screaming towards the cruiser and slamming into it with unbelievable force. Blasts and explosions burst from the area, disturbing the seas and creating a cloud of smoke. As the copters fly upwards, the job done... the smoke clears.



"But you know what, Lloyd? I'll tell her mythelf." Rin says. Her teeth are gritted, and the damage of the missiles is evident as the cruiser's systems are almost completely offline. But, miraculously, the hull of the cruiser has held out against the attack - Rin won't be sinking just yet.

"Oh my god." murmurs Elvin. "I just saw it happen and I still don't believe it."

"This is the same unshakeable strength that Von Panzer draws on." says Lloyd with a grin on his features. "Alright, Rin!"

Oh thank fucking god. Holy shit, Rin, you scared me.

That was a very narrow miss. Still, the question now is how they'll keep Rin away from that copter.



Hm... I do have one idea. It just depends if Sami thinks of it too.



"This is what you get for hurting that Orange Star unit!" shouts Kyril as he drives up to the bomber, firing off and ripping through the enemy bomber's weakened defences.

"Good work, Kyril." Issam says, giving Kyril a nod. "I tell you, that bomber attacked damaged my uniform. I'm going to have to change."

"Issam, if you took on a bomber assault and all you got out of it was a slightly scorched uniform, I would say you did well." Kyril replies.



Issam continues capturing the airport. It's been a bit slowed since he's taken some damage, but it'll be done soon.



Aymil heads up to resupply the pair of them, despite the fact that they've not done all that much yet.

Ah, I see. I don't think he's resupplying because of that - he's preventing the enemy bro copter from attacking Issam. He survived the bomber because it was weakened, but a full HP bro copter would probably finish him off.

That makes a lot of sense. But with such a tantalising distraction blocked off, surely the enemy copter will go for Rin?

That all depends on if Sami thinks of the same plan that I'm thinking of.



We shall see once Sami's turn comes along. Firstly, Talora finishes capturing her airport.



Secondly, Khepri heads up to help out with the copter problem.



Yes, that's what I was thinking of! In that formation, the copter has to go for one of the battleships instead of Rin!

It gets better, too.



The infantry up here is doing a better job of capturing than that poor 1HP mech. If he captures the port on the left, it will be rather problematic.



This guy, though, he's like the opposite of problematic. He's just very slowly capturing this property. I love it.



The enemy copter targets Landon, and in doing so, signs its own death warrant.



Alright, let's see what Sensei's got planned now that the incredibly small but threatening opening gambit has been dealt with.



Well, first, Issam's going to finish capturing this airport...



Talora is continuing to capture things in order to help Sensei's funds a bit.



"Well, if it isn't Talora. You called?" Lysander says, flying the transport copter down to land beside Talora.

"I didn't call, but it's good to see you. I believe we're wanted to head north shortly."

"North, huh? Right into that mass of enemy soldiers. Sounds like a swell trip, that." Lysander replies. "Alright, well, I'm ready to go when you are."



"Oh, hell the fuck yes." Peregrine says, a manic grin spreading out across her face. "It's been too long since I've been allowed to properly let loose! Full speed, maximum power - get ready, Black Hole!"



And here's the signing of the warrant - by attacking from Landon's left, the copter has left itself open to attacks on land, such as Khepri here, who can finish it off immediately, putting paid to the open- sorry, the opening gambit.



Well, that was a pretty good turn, if I do say so. Bombers are going to be quite useful, so long as Sensei keeps them away from any enemy cruisers between him and the lab.



And these missiles. Sami's next job is to get rid of these as soon as possible - now that the copter is gone, Rin is pretty much safe, so the battleships can go back to providing ranged support for Sensei.



As such, they move into this position, putting pressure on the remaining rocket units.



I see what you mean. He's gonna do this a lot, isn't he?

Every couple of days, without fail, pretty much.



It's not a massively threatening CO Power, but it's annoying if you don't prepare for it. An anti-air or medium tank with 7 or more movement is a huge problem, regardless of which CO is controlling it.



Most of Adder's units are forming some kind of defensive last stand on the lab island. You'll also note quite a number of anti-airs and missiles.

Yeah, an air specialist like Sensei isn't going to have fun here. Hm.



Still, he's an intelligent CO. He'll figure out a solution.

I'm pretty sure the best solution is "just kill the shit out of them".



Mm. With the airport captured, Issam hops back into Aymil to get carried to safety.



And Talora finishes capturing her next property.



As Peregrine heads north, she's joined by a familiar battle copter.

Rose lets out a long breath, taking in the atmosphere as she guides her battle copter upwards; she smiles up at the sky before speaking into the transceiver.

“Rin Fisher, of Orange Star. I knew you wouldn’t go down so easily; it is a great pleasure to fight alongside you once more.”

“Oh, gosh…” Rin says, grinning sheepishly. “I did my best!”

“Your lisp is improving.”

Rin nods. “I slip when I’m not concentrating on it… but right now I’m concentrating very hard! We’ve got to capture that lab!”

In response, Rose’s team of battle copters takes to the sky behind her, jetting off across the ocean and land alike, the Black Hole lab within their sights.

“You’re right, Rin. You did well; rest now, and we’ll take it from here.”

At this, she delivers an address to the combined forces of Yellow Comet and Orange Star. It is short but to the point.

"Troops, the forces of the fool who almost sank our trusted ally are ahead of you. Grant them no mercy."



Aw, Khepri's finishing off the mech. He was fun.

He was, but ultimately he's just one more threat dealt with.



Sensei's forces gather like so. Talora and Lysander will be flying north; Issam's going to heal for a little bit, and then go with Aymil. They'll be a bit slower, though, since they can't fly.



Well, that seems fun. Once those missiles are out of the way, Rose and Peregrine can start the reign of terror, too.



To that end, Elvin has moved right here - he's out of the rockets' range but he's capable of attacking the missiles. They won't escape now.



No kidding.

Lloyd and Landon fan out - they'll help, but they need to beware the rockets.



Meanwhile, Adder does nothing worth mentioning. The missiles and rockets didn't even try to escape.



Well, it's time for the adventure to begin then. Talora is off in Lysander. I guess a transport copter is the quickest way to get an infantry to the lab.

Well, with how many units Adder has access to, routing him would be, on the whole, a more difficult option. Best to just storm the lab island.



The rest of them head north. Aymil is still in range to load Issam next turn, though - he just needs to restore that last bit of HP to be at maximum capturing potential.



Oh, and more bro copters. Is every Sensei map just "deploy bro copters and bombers, then win"?

Pretty much, yes. Andromeda's been deployed as a battle copter today.



Rose and Peregrine head north, meeting up with Khepri - they take care not to enter the missile range, though. Those missiles have got to go before they can head further north.



Well, good to see that the battleships have it covered, then. Lloyd's opening fire on the rockets first.



Elvin can virtually destroy them, leaving them with very little HP left. They won't be much trouble now.



And Landon's moved into a slightly more tactical position. He's gonna take a hit from those rockets, but I suppose they'll do like 1 damage, if that.



Guess what? Time for Sideslip again.



Oh, can it, Adder. He's not even making good use of it!



It can't be helped. You'll be pleased to know that you were exactly correct - Landon sustains 1 damage from the rockets that target him.



But that was it? Jeez, Adder needs to work on his strategy. Turtling at his base is not going to work when the enemy is mostly deploying aerial units.

Is that so?

Have you ever tried to turtle around a bomber? It simply doesn't work.



As if to prove his air superiority, Sensei produces a third battle copter, Minerva. She'll be helpful, I'm sure.



Oh, and Issam has finally got a new uniform after the bomber crumpled his old one. Thank goodness, now he can get back into the field.



There is another issue for the ground units now, though - these two battleships.



Khepri very carefully threads her way through.

That's fine, but I'm guessing that Sensei wants that airport. From there he can deploy a bunch of air units and just bully Adder and the lab island into submission.

Indeed. Getting Aymil and Issam there safely is going to be an issue.



Still, they can worry about it later. And don't worry, my dude - even though it looks like Sensei's left plenty of his units in range of the missiles, it's Sami's turn next. And...



With a 1...



A 2...



And a 3, everything is eliminated.

Not bad. They've pretty much decimated the first half of this map, which is good considering how difficult that _{opening gambit} was.



You're right, but the map isn't over yet. Although this was a bad example, since Adder doesn't do anything on this turn except move his units around a bit.



Well, this should be fine. Couple of bombers and bro copters, they'll easily murder everything on that island, even if there's missiles and anti-airs present.

There is another big threat coming up, though, and it's one we'll be dealing with next time.



Sensei's not going to get anywhere near that island until these two cruisers are out of the way. And as you can see, Adder's cruisers virtually control the ocean here - Sami's battleships can't get near them.

Yeah, that's going to be a problem. Next time, huh? Sigh. These maps are getting way too long.

You haven't seen anything yet, my dude. Either way, we shall see how it continues next time - goodbye for now, my dude.

Later.

***

Part 23 Additional