Part 20: Mission 16: Factory Blues (or "Once in a Blue Moon...") - Part 2
Mission 16: Factory Blues (or "Once in a Blue Moon...") - Part 2
Day 13
Well, that B-Copter's attacked an infantry.
That's the last thing it'll attack, though.
Artillery clear out a couple of damaged units, and infantry move up to secure the ground that the artys have cleared.
Moving the arties up behind the infantry, and attacking some random T-Copter with a tank.
Let's have another tank, and a taking-the-piss extra load of infantry.
Sami's turn; let's finish off that T-Copter. Meanwhile, Lash looks like she's coming dangerously close to taking that airport, but there's nothing I can do about it
. At least it's still generating some income for now.
Moving everyone up...
... and whoops, my finger slipped and I built an infantry rather than a mech. What sort of silly consequences will that have, I wonder.
Day 14
Lash sent a tank out to attack me, but that's about it.
Good ol' artillery.
Speaking of which, Lash is covering her factory doors with artils and a rocket. Hmm.
Well, let's do some scratch damage to one of them with an infantry, and move two artillery into range so that, like the battleship in the last mission, whichever one it hits I've got one spare (that Neotank will probably stay there, the AI doesn't like using units that are mid-heal for combat purposes).
After some consideration, I move my 3HP tank up to block a factory door. Sure it'll get trashed by the artillery next turn, but as the factory produces units at the beginning of the turn before the AI moves, it'll do its blocking duty.
Moving more stuff up.
An artillery to make up for the one about to be shelled and yet more infantry.
Sami's turn.
Time I think for a Double Time.
Attack with this mech...
... move the others mechs up...
... move up the medium tank so now that artillery has a third thing threatening it...
... and oh hey, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that I built an infantry instead of a mech. It allowed the infantry to move the 4 squares (with Double Time) and load into the APC this turn. A mech couldn't do that. How's that for serendipity?
Still won't stop me making a mech this turn though.
Wow. You guys have just witnessed an event that's, rather appropriately, once in a blue moon: Lash using her CO Power (Terrain Tactics) rather than saving up for her Super CO Power (Prime Tactics). Rare because Terrain Tactics is kind of underpowered. She must have just crossed the power threshold. Sorry about the dodgy "rrain Tactics" screenshot, it was rather unexpected.
Day 15
Then again, she didn't end up doing much with it. Although we now have more artillery to contend with.
Artillery fire damages the neotank and artillery in the east, and a brave infantry marches up to the factory gates and blocks them (while killing a 1HP mech who was hanging around up there).
Tank and infantry run up and do some damage to artilleries.
And some units head up to the east, in preparation for the final push to destroy the pipe seam and liberate Blue Moon.
Good grief.
Sami's turn, and that accidental infantry is looking more and more awesome. I can use it to stop Lash taking my airport.
Funny old world.
Good ol' serendipity. Meanwhile, the mech column starts attacking tanks. I've also noticed that the APC's almost out of fuel, and in the middle of nowhere to boot. I'd have probably refuelled it on a city if I hadn't accidentally made that infantry. Oh well, you win some, you lose some - and I think saving that airport is worth an APC running out of fuel
.
The last thing it can do is restock the rocket. There's a long road ahead.
Seen as the airport's under my control again, why not celebrate with a B-Copter?
Day 16
Hmm, the factory produced a medium tank, and it killed one of my infantry.
Oh well, good job I've got all these artillery around here, isn't it?
Small tank finishes off the medium tank while another artillery attacks the missile launcher.
Moving people up towards the pipe seam. Granted they aren't perfect units for the job, but they should certainly be able to block up Lash's base.
Infantry clear out the missiles and neotank hanging around the factory doors, then fill in the gaps. Try building stuff now, Lash!
Why do I keep taking screenshots of this? Don't think I'll bother showing you any more of it.
Sami's turn. Attacking a tank with a mech charges up another Double Time.
Yeehaw.
Rocket destroys tank.
Mech attacks artillery, B-Copter attacks artillery, infantry attacks infantry.
Medium tank continues the long haul towards that pipe seam.
Day 17
Well into the end-game now, but it's still going to take a fair few turns to tidy this up I'm afraid.
While tanks attack tanks and artillery move around towards the pipes, I use this AA to both destroy a mech and block up a base that Lash had conveniently left open.
There we go.
Moving everyone up.
This is looking pretty good - only Blue Moon's stats count towards technique and power here, so as far as technique goes we're doing just fine. Olaf could lose two more units and not take a technique penalty, and he can still produce more units. Power might be more of an issue though.
Sami's turn. Lash now has an AA, so we've got to be careful with our B-Copter. Happily, that rocket launcher is too far away for the AA to reach it (and Lash isn't going to spring a Prime Tactics on us this time).
First let's kill this tank and artillery with mechs...
... and then use the copter and the infantry to damage that rocket launcher down to 1HP.
The medium tank will be able to start attacking the pipe next turn. Even at 5HP, it's still probably the best unit we have as far as direct damage goes
Day 18
Nothing really major happened on Lash's turn. Although that AA is now threatening Sami's B-Copter.
Continuing to move stuff up. I'd've attacked the pipe seam with my small tank, but that'd've blocked Sami's medium tank from attacking it, so I'm going to leave that for now.
Tank destroys artillery, infantry attacks mech, two infantry attack another infantry, and a fourth infantry fills up the factory door where the tank previously lived.
Moving a whole bunch of stuff.
Sami's turn.
First up, let's kill this mech with the rocket launcher.
Infantry finishes off Lash's rocket while the B-Copter runs away and attacks that artillery again.
7HP mech starts capturing a city. Because it's Sami, the 7HP mech captures at 10 a turn rather than 7. Good ol' Sami.
And we can finally start attacking that pipe seam!
Day 19
AA took out Sami's infantry, and that's about it.
REVENGE! Or... something.
Moving up artillery so they can assist the medium tank with pipe destruction.
Moving artillery up on the other side too.
In fact, moving everything up.
Sami's go. Capturing a city, moving another mech in front of an AA to protect it from Lash's mech. B-Copter continues to attack that artillery.
That T-Copter I built a while back ferries up another mech.
And the medium tank keeps bashing away at that pipe seam.
Day 20
Nearly there.
A bunch of artillery do stuff.
Some tanks do stuff as well, and I capture Lash's eastern base.
In case you're interested, this is the all the infantry spamming I've been doing back at HQ for the last few turns.
Sami's turn, and dealing another blow to the pipe.
Good grief, I could rout Lash before I break the pipe seam. I think Rout's a victory option here as well as seam-breaking.
Apparently Lash is now down to one 5HP APC and its contents, and with that T-Copter blocking her base, she can't make any new units.
Yeah, like Prime Tactics is going to help you now, Lash.
Day 21
Damn, I didn't spot that artillery over there. Guess we can't go for the rout. Sorry, guys
.
Oh well, let's finish this.
Aftermath
Mistress Lash! Wait for us!
Commander Olaf... Wow, he even cries big...
More than anyone else I know, the boss lives for his country. Those are tears of pure joy. Really? Commander Olaf is a truly great leader! Of course, so are you, Commander Grit. Cut that out, Colin. I ain't used to anyone singing my praises.
Colin's right!! In fact, you're both great commanders! You're the mold from which great COs are made! You're the children of Blue Moon! You're MY children!
YOUR children? You tryin' to scare old Colin half to death? 
Howdy, Sami. Listen, sweetheart... I want to thank y'all for being so neighborly and helpin' us out. This war's gonna drag on a bit, so we'll return the favor someday soon. So long. Uh, Commander Grit! Wait for me! Thanking others for their goodwill is nothing to be shy about! The ability to express gratitude is as beautiful as the aurora itself! Grit! Colin!
It looks like peace has returned to Blue Moon.
Their COs get along well, don't they? They look like a happy family.
You think so? They looked a bit dysfunctional to me.
Blue Moon's safe and sound. Let's head for home.
Wow, even got an S-Rank - just. S-Ranks on Normal Campaign factories are pretty rare, so I guess I should be pretty proud of one here in Hard Campaign. My
So, we're done with Blue Moon. The boys in blue will be back later, but for now it's time to move on to Yellow Comet. For those of you who want an introduction to the Yellow Comet part of campaign, I suggest you go back to my "Blue Moon and Yellow Comet Introduction" installment.
I seem to remember that the general consensus from earlier votes was to do Sensei's Return first (because Sensei), then do Show Stopper to get the lab map, then do the lab mission, and then continue from there. Right then, it'll be after my holiday (a week in the Scottish Highlands, for reference), but:
Tune in next time for...
SENSEI VS. ADDER
ROUND 1
FIGHT