Part 62: Interview 31 - “Mulligan’s Secret Mission” (Or, “The Boys Are Back”)
Interview 31 - “Mulligan’s Secret Mission” (Or, “The Boys Are Back”)
Heeeeeey, Ruin! Green Earth time, baybeee!
My dude it is seven in the morning. Turn that excitement all the way down, please. Bleh, fine. "Hello, Ruin. Time to begin Green Earth, is it?" Perfect. And yes, it is. Let's get started with Jess, our new CO.
Let’s get started then. You again? Haven’t you had enough?BH Soldier: Before that, we’d better reply to Commander Hawke’s question.
Oh, what a pain! What did he want again?BH Soldier: The estimated time on the repairs. Can they be done in 30 days?
30 days?! Fuck me, this is going to be a long map. … 17 days. Oh god dammitBH Soldier: Excuse me?
Under my brilliant direction, the repairs will take 17 days. Not 30, 17. Lash is, as usual, overconfident.BH Soldier: However, the workers… Can they handle that pace?
If we don’t have enough manpower, we’ll simply borrow some soldiers. The units sent to hide the lab map have returned, haven’t they? Why the fuck did they hide it? Just burn the fucking thing. Black Hole, what is WRONG with you? Anyway, we’ll have them done in 17 days!BH Soldier: Yes…um…OK.
So, let's see what Jess is all about, shall we? I must admit, I'm curious.
Ooh, this is an interesting map. So they're the battleships in need of repair... and that airport in the north looks like trouble. More importantly, what is that random island over to the left? Well, you'll find out.
Jess, can you really pull this off with this many troops? Ah, a guerrilla mission. It’s still not too late for Eagle or me to provide reinforcements. That might be useful. There’s a hell of a lot of ocean on this map.
The more troops, the longer it takes to get organized. Time is of the essence here. We must attack before the repairs are done! That’s true, but… If the enemy captures that airport, they’ll deploy B copters and bombers. He says “if” like it’s not got a 100% chance of happening. Mm, it does seem like the airport will be a big problem on this map. At any rate, you’re in for rough seas. Take a look, Drake. For air units, I’ve got my A-airs. I’m going to bathe those battleships in artillery fire! Watch and see!
Anyway, we've got quite a few new units this time - we are in a new country, after all.TODAY’S DEPLOYMENTS
Mulligan, Infantry
Howard, Infantry
Wallace, Mech
Otis, Mech
Finn, APC
Conrad, Tank
Henry, Tank
Roland, Medium Tank
Matilda, Medium Tank
Lorelei, Recon
Cassandra, Anti-Air
Petra, Anti-Air
Sebastian, Artillery
Amarah, Artillery
Noah, Rockets
Adelaide, Lander
Frederick, Battleship
MULLIGAN
Age: 36
Personality: Likes second chances.
Proficiencies: Infantry, Missiles, Fighter Jet
HOWARD
Age: 29
Personality: Grumpy, yet amicable.
Proficiencies: Infantry, Fighter Jet, Missiles
WALLACE
Age: 45
Personality: Lively but tactless.
Proficiencies: Mech, Battleship, Bomber
OTIS
Age: 33
Personality: An avid birdwatcher.
Proficiencies: Mech, Battleship, Fighter Jet
FINN
Age: 29
Personality: Lover of nature.
Proficiencies: APC, Lander, Submarine
CONRAD
Age: 21
Personality: Takes life easy.
Proficiencies: Infantry, Tank, Neotank
HENRY
Age: 22
Personality: Master of puns.
Proficiencies: Tank, Anti-Air, Missiles
ROLAND
Age: 18
Personality: In dad’s shadow.
Proficiencies: Medium Tank, Cruiser, Battle Copter
MATILDA
Age: 30
Personality: Desperately wants companionship.
Proficiencies: Medium Tank, Rockets, Bomber
LORELEI
Age: 37
Personality: A talented herbalist.
Proficiencies: Recon, Submarine, Battle Copter
CASSANDRA
Age: 36
Personality: Rediscovering her place.
Proficiencies: Anti-Air, Tank, Mech
PETRA
Age: 19
Personality: Keen to impress.
Proficiencies: Anti-Air, Fighter Jet, Battle Copter
SEBASTIAN
Age: 23
Personality: Adelaide’s meek boyfriend.
Proficiencies: Artillery, Lander, APC
AMARAH
Age: 23
Personality: Free-spirited and open.
Proficiencies: Infantry, Artillery, Bomber
NOAH
Age: 27
Personality: A constant optimist.
Proficiencies: Artillery, Recon, Rockets
ADELAIDE
Age: 24
Personality: Sebastian’s jealous girlfriend.
Proficiencies: Lander, APC, Transport Copter
FREDERICK
Age: 35
Personality: Thinks he’s cool.
Proficiencies: Bomber, Battleship, Battle Copter
Whew, that was a lot. But, Mulligan and Howard are back! And Cassandra! Old soldiers of yours, I take it? The best soldiers. Mulligan and Cassandra fought for Orange Star for a while, but after the campaign, they headed home to Green Earth - and Howard, who was sort-of in a relationship with Mulligan, went with them. I see. Well, let's not forget to introduce Jess properly, either.
Dandelions? That's such a weirdly specific thing.
Oh, I see the difference between her and Max now! All her vehicles, direct and ranged, get a buff, whereas everything else is weaker. Right, right, that makes sense. Correct. Even Max's direct boats and planes hit hard, but Jess has to exclusively rely on her vehicles, pretty much.
Is it just me, or is this the third "extra movement and attack" Super CO Power? It seems that they didn't have very imaginative ideas for Super CO Powers.
Anyway, enough conversation. Let's begin the map - Mulligan begins capturing the port near to here. It will prove to be useful for several reasons.
Howard, meanwhile, hops into Finn, ready to move into the field.
Yep, that's a classic turn 1 "just move everything forward". Lash's units are probably going to charge right for Jess' troops, though.
That’s not fair! We’re in the middle of repairs!BH Soldier: What are your orders, Mistress Lash?
What are my orders? Counterattack, you twerp! Gotta admit, Stressed Lash is my favourite Lash. She’s hilarious.BH Soldier: So, we’ll need to push back the deadline on repairs…
I just enjoy this one Black Hole soldier who is absolutely determined to avoid this deadline. No way!BH Soldier: But… But…the deadline…
STOP SAYING THAT! Just do as you’re told. NOW! Pfft.
As you predicted, Lash's units simply charge at Jess' army. However, they're not quite close enough for Jess to initiate on them, which is unfortunate. In my heart, I want Jess' vehicles to be like AW1 Max's, with just stupid amounts of damage. But I know that's not realistic. Indeed, not really.
Finn drops Howard off in the south-east area, where there are plenty of properties to begin capturing, including a base.
The rest of the soldiers make a defensive formation, though they don't quite have enough movement to cover Finn - he might take a hit this turn.Roland nods at the rest of the tanks. "Alright, everyone, let's-"
"Do your best, folks! Let them break themselves upon ya! And Roland, I know you're not as confident as the other tanks, but you'll be fine! Just don't bite off more than you can chew!"
"I'm fine, dad..." sighs Roland. "I'm not a child. I can fight just as well as anyone else."
"Eh, we'll be fine." Conrad replies, shrugging. "Just don't send any of the tanks my way... I'd rather let someone else handle that."
"Hee hee!" Henry says, grinning. "Tanks a bunch for that, Conrad. I guess I'll be handling the battle, then!"
Mulligan's finished capturing the port. But Jess isn't very good at boats, so why is that important?"Port's been captured." Mulligan says, waving at the other soldiers. "What now?"
"Is that Mulligan I'm speaking to?" says a voice over the transceiver. Mulligan nods.
"Indeed."
"It's Jess. I've got a special mission for you - once Adelaide is ready to leave the port, get ready to move out."
"How exciting." Mulligan says, nodding. "I'll do my best!"
"Good luck, Mulligan." Howard says seriously. "You stay safe, you hear me?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Whilst most of the soldiers continue heading further up, you'll note that the ranged units have positioned themselves behind the defensive line - anything that attacks the tanks will be in the firing line. Oh, that's perfect. Go on, Lash, blunder right into the trap!
Lash's soldiers up north are more preoccupied with capturing this airport. To be fair, that's going to be a problem. Bro copters do quite well against tanks, which is most of Jess' direct units right now.
Hah! Seems like they're preoccupied with capturing down south, too. This mech is quite bold to sit and capture a Green Earth property right in front of a medium tank.
Despite his complaints, one of the tanks goes for Conrad.
And the other one goes for Finn, uh oh. He's fine."Whoa! That didn't sound good. How's my vehicle looking, Howard?"
"You'll live." Howard says; he doesn't look convinced. "But, yeah, you'd better make a retreat before that tank fires again..."
Thankfully, the rest of the enemies don't attack, since they can't quite reach the front line troops. The medium tank is a big threat, though - it has to go this turn.
"Hey, Sebastian! Can I call you Seb?" Amarah says as she prepares to fire her artillery unit.
"Uh... yeah." Sebastian says.
"I'll go for one tank, you and Noah go for the other one, alright? We'll let the shells fly through the air!"
"That sounds good to me!" Noah replies. "We'll do great!"
"Right." Sebastian replies bluntly once more. Amarah wonders briefly why he's being so quiet, but soon ignores it and fires.
"This next one's mine!" Noah says, firing on the other enemy tank. "Don't worry, Finn, we'll get rid of that thing!"
"Thank you - Noah, wasn't it? Great shot!" Finn replies, then he murmurs to himself. "But the rockets do damage the ground quite a lot, throwing up soil and dirt..."
And Sebastian finishes this tank off - this is useful because it opens the way to attack the medium tank. Ah, true. Time for some medium tank on medium tank action! I... no. Bad sentence.
You are correct, though. Roland opens fire on the medium tank, and as you can see, Jess' tanks hit hard. Not quite as hard as I was expecting, though. Ah well. Max was ludicrously unbalanced, I suppose...
Cassandra heads over the enemy mech capturing a property, with her anti-air troops in tow. "Don't worry - we'll shred this foe. May you find peace in the Forest of Light."
"Don't pray for them, Cassandra! They're Black Hole!" Wallace says. "Just send the lot of them into the earth and keep plowing forward!"
"Um. Right. I'll... bear that in mind." Cassandra replies.
Conrad decides to help."Fine, twist my arm..." mutters Conrad, preparing to fire. "I'm gonna order pizza tonight. I deserve it for my contributions."
Henry rolls right past him and shakes his head in amusement. "You can only have pizza if you win the battle - victories before pizza cheese, my friend!"
"That wasn't your best pun." chuckles Finn.
"They can't all be winners, you know. But if you don't try every time, you never know!" Henry replies, firing on the mech and finishing him off.
Ah, and that's opened the route for, uh... Tina? Rose? Woman in tank? Matilda. MATILDA to finish off the enemy medium tank! Perfect.
And now we've got a new unit - Frederick."Hey, dudes and dudettes!" Frederick announces.
Dudette? Where?! Sigh."A battleship? Why does Jess need a battleship?" asks Noah.
"I'll be helping you guys out by taking out the enemy battleships and providing support from the seas! Let's dab all of those enemies, guys!" Frederick says, grinning.
"Oh, god," Petra says. "That is absolutely not how the word 'dab' is used, and it hasn't been cool for at least two years."
The units organise themselves like so - Finn is no longer in the firing line, which is good. Jess can push forward now, once this mech is out of the way. Hey, mechs can still pack a punch, especially against weakened tanks. Don't write him off as a non-issue just yet.
Oh boy. Especially so if Lash gets her CO Power off.
There was quite a lot of damage dealt, to be fair. A CO Power was to be expected.
This enemy anti-air goes for Lorelei, our recon for today.
See, the mech's gone for Henry! That's going to hurt a bit.
I'm sure Jess can turn it around. After all, tanks are supposed to take a hit here and there. Being on 5 and 4 HP is not ideal, though.
Just like last turn, the enemies who decided to get into Jess' range are about to regret it. Amarah fires on the recon for a huge hit to begin with.
And Noah finishes off the mech.
Of course, Sebastian can easily take out the rest of the recon's HP. Honestly, I don't think there's a single unit in the game that can stand up to two artilleries at full HP. They are just ridiculous at what they do. Fourth wall, my dude. Please. Honestly, I don't think there's a single unit in the 
Medium tanks are another unit that are ridiculous at what they do. Matilda completely slams this enemy tank - though this does put her in range of the enemy medium tank. Sometimes you gotta take risks. Especially if Jess wants to reach those battleships before time is up.
Ah, and Roland engages the other enemy tank. This is looking good.
Henry can do a little bit of damage to it, too. But the main reason he's moved over here is...
...to join up with the weakened Conrad."So, you're gonna drive, right?" Conrad says, nodding at Henry.
"Drive you crazy, perhaps." Henry replies with a grin. "You're not getting out of doing work just because I'm here, y'know!"
Meanwhile, Jess has become somewhat curious as to what could be over h- Lab map. ...Spoil all the fun, why don't you.
As Frederick sails off, a lander soon arrives at the port; Mulligan turns around to see a pink-haired woman looking at him with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
"Mulligan! Good to see you. Looks like we'll be heading for the western island to do this secret mission!"
"Oh, Adelaide. We met on the journey up here, didn't we?" Mulligan say, nodding. "Alright then, let's get going."
"Perfect!" says Adelaide, giving a fake giggle that makes Mulligan uncomfortable. Nonetheless, he leaps onto the deck of the lander and nods at the open seas ahead of them.
"We'll handle things over here, Mulligan. Just make sure that you don't get caught by the enemy - you'll be a sitting duck on the ocean." Cassandra says over the transceiver.
"We'll be careful, don't worry. You stay focussed on the task at hand - those battleships!" Mulligan replies.
Our other anti-air, Petra, and some of the other units, have made it to Howard's position at the properties in the south. Unfortunately, that artillery is going to be an issue. They'll have to get rid of it before they can capture anything nearby.
Anyhow, on Lash's turn, this medium tank savagely assaults Matilda.
The other tank guns for the ranged units, but doesn't quite reach them, so... that was pointless. I mean, sure, but if Jess' tanks keep taking hits like this, she's not going to have any tanks left by the time they make it to the northern area.
Ye of little faith, my dude.
Oh, this should be good.
OOOOOH OVERDRIVE BECAUSE SHE USES VEHICLES Yes, indeed. They are literally over-driving, by moving beyond their usual movement range.
Before we see how that goes, we'll check on the boats. Adelaide is on her way west, whilst Frederick has taken up a good vantage point to attack the enemy battleships from.
You might think that a half-HP medium tank is no longer useful, but... Whoa, I never said that. I have a big respect for medium tanks of all kinds. Oh. Right. Yes. Well, anyway, Matilda shreds these rockets.
Roland takes Matilda's place to attack this medium tank, and almost takes it out.
Oh, wow, and with the extreme attack boost, Petra actually does quite well against this artillery!
Correct. She does just enough damage to allow Lorelei to finish it off, leaving the infantry units free to begin capturing things.
Howard's already making a start on the base, I see. He is in rocket range, though... The rockets won't do very much damage. Plus, capturing these things isn't crucial for Jess' succss or anything.
A base will be useful in case any of her units die, though.
Since mechs walk unbelievably slowly, however, Wallace hops into Finn to get a quick lift to the properties nearby.
Ah, an excellent opportunity to resupply. I suppose the infantry can stay down here, but if there really are bombers on the way, Petra is absolutely needed up north. And it's quite the trip. Better safe than sorry.
Amarah continues her life's work of firing at anything unlucky enough to in her range, and finishes another tank off. Is it really "unlucky enough" when the tank quite explicitly entered Amarah's range for no reason?
Here's an uncomfortable image: Cassandra, as an anti-air, taking out a medium tank. I dunno, after watching Vanessa kill a medium tank in Yellow Comet, I'm kind of desensitised to it now.
Henry/Conrad take out this tank, and finally, most of Lash's ground forces are dealt with. Time to head north and ruin some battleships' days then!
Indeed. To that end, though Amarah cannot move becaue she attacked, Noah and Sebastian head up to catch up with the ground crew. They'll be very useful in taking out the battleships. Anyway, Lash's turn...
This guy's trying to capture a base to give Lash more ground forces. The last thing we need is reinforcements on the way.
Lash's rockets go for Howard, as predicted, but he shrugs it off surprisingly well.
And up north, a troubling development - the air reinforcements have begun.
That could be trouble. But they're pretty far away, so we don't need to worry about them right now. I mean, all of this took place a month ago whilst I was looking for you, so we don't need to worry at all. Oh, right, this already happened...
Cassandra takes out the rockets, which is good because Matilda has another goal this turn.
Taking out this dickhead. Makes sense.
Capturing is going well down here, also. That said, Howard does need an extra day because he took minor damage from the rockets. Dammit, Howard, holding us up as always.
Now that he's in position, though, Frederick can start firing on the enemy battleships. It's not much damage, but damage is damage, frankly. True. With the strict deadline, Jess needs to do a whole lot of damage in a short amount of time.
Jess' troops gather at the beginning of the northern area - though they can't advance further up safely becaus there's a minicannon waiting for them. Hm, that's annoying. Wonder what the best option for taking it out is...
Having taken some damage, this young soldier can no longer successfully capture this base. He'll be gone by next turn. And now I have some good news and some bad news. Go on? The good news is that Lash's battle copter only moves about 2 spaces and does nothing. But the bad news...
...is that. Oh fuck. Drake wasn't kidding when he said there'd be bombers.
Well, that changes things! If Jess charges ahead, she'll pay dearly for it. I mean, even an anti-air struggles if the bomber gets the first hit. Quite. On no account can Jess allow this bomber to initiate.
More good news - Howard finishes his capturing. Oh thank god
Rather unsurprisingly, Petra is able to slice through this mech. Anti-airs do not care for foot units.
And Frederick is moving? This is a more advantageous position - firstly, he's in range of every battleship now. And secondly, he's in range of the first minicannon.
"We're here. What is it you're supposed to be finding, anyway?" Adelaide asks as the lander comes in to dock. Mulligan sits on the prow for a moment before hopping over the side and landing in the shallows. He shrugs.
"I... that's a great question." he says. "I suppose I'll just capture territory until I find it. Be back soon!"
Jess' units gather like so - the mountains are proving to be an annoying obstacle, but for now, they're almost at their goal. Well, once those minicannons are gone, anyway.
As it happens, the minicannons have found a target in range, and fire on Henry/Conrad. They sustain a small amount of damage, but they'll live.
What's more troublesome is the battle copter and the bomber that have now come to play. That's not good. It takes two anti-airs to take out a bomber, so no matter what Petra and Casandra do, at least one of those two units is going to still be alive.
I'd say that it would slow down their progress, but they already had to slow down because of the minicannon, so I'm not sure it's terribly relevant, really.
Frederick lands a sturdy blow on the cannon to begin with.
And, in prime position, Noah can take it out fully. The first minicannon is down. That wasn't so bad, actually.
Indeed. Wallace begins capturing the base, though, again, it's not in a very useful location. No, the mountains and forests all around aren't ideal. But hey, more anti-airs might be a good plan.
Oh? Who's joining up? Well, there's a bomber on the way, so Matilda and Roland decide to join up.Wallace notices the manoeuvre. "Ho ho ho! Matilda and Roland, joining up? You know she's almost twice your age, don't you, you ladykiller? But I suppose if you've never had a girlfriend before, anyone will do!" he says, chuckling to himself. Roland blushes bright red.
"I am so sorry about him, Matilda. I've had a girlfriend before, I swear..."
"Don't worry. I've met men like him before... they really aren't worth listening to." she replies.
"I wish I could ignore him," Roland says. "But at the end of the day, he is my old man..."
Matilda places a hand on Roland's shoulder and gives him a smile.
"You can't choose your family, but that doesn't mean you have to stick with them, either."
Mulligan begins capturing the nearest property, in the meantime.
The rest of the units prepare for the bomber and battle copter to arrive - this could be a dangerous turn depending on where the bomber goes.
Well, that's a relief! The copter flew in the complete wrong direction and the bomber parked itself right in the range of the anti-air squad. How strange.
Petra initiates on the bomber, removing most of the threat right away. She does take a bit of damage, however.
And Wallace has finished capturing that base. Progress!
Indeed. And with one shot from Cassandra to finish off the bomber, the way forward is open once again.
Frederick could do with some help. He's only one battleship, after all. He'll get some help next time, but for now, we should focus on the fact that the first mission has been completed. Oh?
That is not what Mulligan looks like. Hm? A lab… They’ve been developing weapons within our borders. Since they went to the trouble, let’s take the weapons along with this map. We need to let Eagle know about this. He definitely won’t stand for it.GE Soldier: Yes, ma’am. Understood.
These Black Hole goons really are trouble. Either way, the lab map is secure, which is nice. So... we'll pick it up from here next time.
Jess' forces have arrived at the battleship area, and Lash has an airport ready to harass them with. The second half of this map should be interesting. I look forward to it! More Cassandra and Petra killing stuff will be good. You just look forward to pretty, badass ladies killing things on the battlefield, don't you? OK, look, maybe I have a type...***
Part 31 Additional