Part 43: Mission 32: Great Sea Battle (or "Hawke, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!") - Part 1
Mission 32: Great Sea Battle (or "Hawke, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!") - Part 1
Time to take down the fourth and final factory.
It has come to this... brought to bay against our own factory.
Hawke...
Here, Lord Sturm. Explain yourself. The enemy has routed your wretched companions... And here you are, cringing like a dog with its tail beneath its legs. ...... Protect my factory at any cost. If you fail, you will know no peace and no forgiveness, cur. Yes, my liege.Adder "supervised" Flak and Lash's failures, Hawke "supervised" Adder's and now Sturm is "supervising" Hawke's...
Think we can handle this on our own? It looks like Black Hole is mustering all its troops.
This war won't end until we destroy that factory. If we don't do this, no one will.
That's not exactly true.
Commander Kanbei! If we pool our might and fight as one, our chance of victory increases. Isn't that so, Nell?
Yes, it is. We want to help as well. Blue Moon can't send soldiers, but their support is unwavering.
I understand... It's not like we've been fighting this war on our own. Together, we stand strong. Now let's go liberate Green Earth!
As decided by YOU the readers, our team for this mission will be Eagle, Andy and Sensei.
We're in charge of the land campaign! Wahoo! I'm ready to go!
That enemy CO seems like a tough guy... But I see right through him, and I'm going for his weak point!Day 1
You know the general plan from the strategic notes post, so let's crack on.
With Eagle, the tank and APC move up, I start capturing a city and I build two more infantry from the bases.
With Andy it's a case of moving one infantry east towards the cities and missile silo over here, and the other south towards the nice cache of cities down here. And then cranking out two more infantry.
Thanks to their AI settings, these ships won't move unless I go into range of them.
So for now it's a case of moving to just out of range of them, and building another infantry unit.
Day 2
And the factory produces two bombers first turn. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Great Sea Battle HC.
Well isn't that a naughty recon, attacking my APC like that.
I'll deal with him in a second, but I'll just get the capturing out of the way first.
Stitch that, pal.
And, seen as this is Eagle we're dealing with here, we have no excuse not to deploy a B-Copter at this point.
Over to you, Andy.
Infantry move and capture, and then I build a tank.
And now for Sensei.
The lander scuttles under the radar of Hawke's rather static navy.
And yep, another infantry unit.
Day 3
The recon ran away like the coward that it is.
But it could only run so far.
Happily I can attack it and just stay out of Black Cannon range.
And there we go.
With that done, we've got something of a platform established for the push northwards.
The rest of the units move up. I'm not building anything this turn, though: with all those bombers around, I'd better save up for a fighter.
Back with Andy, and things are pretty much where we left them.
But that's about to change! Good ol' missile silos.
Tank moves up, artillery built.
And I can start capturing down here.
Back with Sensei again.
Let's unload my dudes onto this island.
And capturing...
... and owch. I guess it's the price you have to pay for firing missiles.
Day 4
Right then.
Let's see how far these units here can reach. Not far enough. Good, good.
I can build up around here, then.
And, as the infantry move up, crank out the fighter that I promised last turn.
Andy, meanwhile, has a bit of a problem. I was hoping to get my tank through to smash up Hawke's rocket launcher, but it seems his recon, middie and artillery have different ideas.
Oh well, if they want a chokepoint I can give them a chokepoint.
I can also give them -1 recon.
Since we're going to be in the middle of Chokepoint Fun over here for now, let's have a second artillery.
One city down, five to go.
Meanwhile, in Sensei-land...
... I'm going to be focusing on taking down this mech before it can make life complicated for me. That's going to be a little bit tricky, given it's already ten capture points to the good, but it's worth a shout.
To that end, I'm going to be ignoring these nice properties for now and focusing on silos.
Meanwhile, back at base I keep on capturing and building up money.
Day 5
Back to Eagle.
Hawke's units are just out of reach here. I'll have to do something about that.
And the something about it which I will do is to use my tank as a lure for Hawke's.
In the meantime, I'm going to use the missile silo near Eagle's base to further damage that mech.
Infantry infantry infantry infantry infantry B-Copter.
Now then, Hawke's parked his medium tank in range of my artillery.
So let's take advantage of that (arrow fans, rejoice at the first arrows of the mission). Arty attacks medium tank, small tank retreats to the city, and a second artillery moves up.
Two down, four to go.
Because my infantry up there is suffering on 1HP, I'd better build some more.
Back with Sensei, it's time for another silo!
Take that, Mr. Mech.
Infantry and landers move into place so I can load up next turn: I need to go finish that mech off.
Yes, I know I've got to capture the stuff in that corner as well. That's what this second lander's for.
Day 6
Not quite sure why Hawke needs three T-Copters, but I guess on a map this size it's probably not a bad idea.
Anyway, the bait has worked, and Hawke's tank's come to pay us a visit.
He can't stay for long, though.
Moving up my APC so it can sacrifice itself to save my B-Copter, and moving my fighter up as well.
And the other units follow along behind. Again, not spending anything so I can deploy a second fighter next turn.
Over with Andy, we have some units to take out.
Artillery finishes off the 2HP medium tank...
... and my small tank follows up by rolling into the rocket launcher's range shadow and blowing up the arty in front of it.
With that bomber around, I'd better build an anti-air to help Eagle deal with it. I'll have an APC too, I guess.
Three down, three to go. I guess I could have sent some of Eagle's troops over the pair of shoals to grab some cities for the glory of Green Earth. Maybe you're actually supposed to. But I didn't.
So then, what's happening with Sensei?
Well, what's happening is that I'm loading my infantry into a lander so I can finish off this mech over here, and capture the base that it was trying to capture.
And we can start loading up this second lander, too. Next turn I'll finish loading it up and send it off on its journey to capture the properties of the south-eastern island.
Hawke's bomber goes off and destroys one of Andy's artillery...
... while his AA takes down my sacrificial APC.
Day 7
Okay, first let's get this airport captured.
Then we'll take down the bomber that had the audacity to assault our ally's artillery.
And down she goes.
This AA will be more of a problem, given I'll be fighting it with an injured tank and a battle copter.
Not exactly the most clinical attack ever, but it'll do.
And at least it's trapped in there now.
For good measure, let's build a second fighter.
Andy, meanwhile, has a rocket launcher to deal with.
Easy enough. With the rockets gone and my tank blocking the route around the Black Cannon to the north, I can bring up my artillery behind this impromptu chokepoint.
Building, moving, capturing.
We begin Sensei's turn in medias res.
There, with that mech gone we have this base all to ourselves! Muahaha. Or something.
Landers keep doing what they do best.
And I think I'll build an AA to fend off the inevitable B-Copter swarms and attempted HQ captures and whatnot.
Day 8
Hawke's power bar is very nearly full, so next turn'll probably be a Black Storm. Oh well, forewarned is forearmed.
He's also getting ready to take over these island airports. This is why it's tricky to get an airport as Sensei.
But to continue, let's finish off this trapped AA.
And move my fighter over here. Nothing to attack just yet, but this is a nice spot to be in: free from black cannon or minicannon fire.
Second fighter moves up, and we'll have another B-Copter I think.
Okay, Andy's turn.
Artillery moves into position to attack the Black Cannon, AA helps the fighter guard the southern approach.
Sending my tank forward without artillery backup probably wasn't the best move...
But oh well, let's just do everything else or something.
Back with Sensei, we...
... forget to screenshot the capturing and instead focus on some landers. Oh well. Rest assured that the capturing is getting done.
Never mind Black Storm, look at that unit pile building up. Eesh.
Day 9
Ugh, 8s everywhere.
Oh well, there's a bunch of B-Copters approaching and we've got to deal with them.
I can also finally take down this artillery using my own B-Copters.
Let's hit Hawke's forces that are clustering around the Black Cannon with a missile silo.
Moving and building, and joining together the 8HP B-Copter and 1HP B-Copter
Andy's turn, and you all know what it's time for...
It's kind of funny that you can reverse the most annoying effects of a nine-star power with a three-star power.
And no more 8s. Well, for Andy at least.
Time to start damaging the Black Cannon.
Dropping off an infantry in an attempt to capture that base, and prevaricating with my anti-air (well, if I took down that 7HP B-Copter, I'd get slapped for 8HP of damage by the black and mini cannons.
Given my tank's looking worse for wear, I'd better build some new ones.
Hooray, another missile silo.
Let's annoy Hawke's forces up here further still.
Lander delivers its cargo. Next turn I can finally start capturing this stuff.
And here comes another lander.
Ugh, seems I'm not the only one who can play the missile silo game...
Day 10
And here comes Hawke's first fighter. We've had it our own way up until now, but this changes things a bit. Still, we still have a numbers advantage.
Let's cement that advantage by building a third fighter.
And moving the other two fighters together, backed up by the B-Copter squadron.
Yet more infantry moving.
Andy took the worst of that missile silo. Still, mustn't grumble.
One 7HP artillery keeps attacking the black cannon. The other moves up to help out.
APC replaces tank on "protect the capturing infantry" duty.
As my AA's a little exposed right now, I'd better build another. Also note that the infantry in the south have finished their capturing duties and are ready to go and help out on the main front.
Sensei's turn, and predictably firing that missile silo got one of my infantry smashed by a Black Cannon for its trouble.
Still, joining these two together will help. I've also captured that base!
Infantry capture, landers loiter.
Day 11
Well that's not good: a bomber's smashed through Andy's AA, and a copter's snuck through the gap to damage his artillery.
Still, at least we can punish the bomber.
Lining up out of cannon range. The Black Cannon will be going down on Andy's turn, but the minis are still a threat.
At least we have three fighters now. I should probably get started on bombers to deal with these minicannons, but I don't have the cash right now. Instead, let's build a T-copter so I can take the airport and port on that island.
Now then, where was I? Ah yes, finishing off the Black Cannon.
What a lovely explosion. I think that's my best capture of an exploding Black Cannon so far.
Things happen - most notably, I joined the 3 and 7HP artilleries together and brought forward a fresh one.
Since this battle's descending ever further into chokepoint chaos, I'd better get a rocket launcher built.
Over with Sensei, we can get this base and port captured...
... and we're going to need at least one AA up here. Hawke is starting to mass B-Copters on that ring-shaped pair of islands to the west, and we'll need AAs to secure the area before we can think of deploying the rockets we need to take down that pipe seam.
Ships that pass in the night.
And another AA, built over here this time.
Some pretty bad news here: not only has Hawke broken through my infantry to the north, but he's got an AA attacking Eagle's fighters. We may need to regroup...
Day 12
Erk. Neotank to the north, AA to the south.
But hey, at least this infantry's kind of vulnerable right now!
While the B-Copters pile up in the minicannons' blind spot, I join the 8HP and 2HP fighters and bring them, along with the full-health fighter, away from that anti-air.
Other than that, capturing and dropping a unit to start capturing is about all I can do.
Okay, it's Andy's turn and we're in a spot of bother. What can we do?
Well, let's use these two artillery to finish off that 4HP tank and damage the anti-air.
Aaand... everyone else retreats, leaving the artillery stranded in no-man's land (how ironic).
Well, I guess I'd better build some more artillery then.
At least someone's having a reasonably good time of things.
The AA moves west (don't worry, I did check that it was a cannon blind spot) to try and hold off Hawke's coptery hordes while I construct a rocket launcher, Black Cannon destruction, for the use of.
Lander delivers another AA and infantry.
Capturing continues.
This should keep the T-Copters at bay.
Day 13
It's looking messy, but we might just be in a position to stage some sort of counterattack.
First let's damage this neotank a bit.
While that happens, one of my fighters clears a transport copter out of the way.
The two remaining battle copters take down a mech...
... which opens a path for my fighter to destroy the B-Copter. Although he's flying into harm's way in the process, ending up in minicannon range.
Because of this, I'd better crank out another fighter. Man, I'm never going to get a bomber at this rate.
Over with Andy, let's continue the counterattack, and give Eagle some leeway by taking out Hawke's AAs.
Crunchy!
The two small tanks clean up.
It's getting a bit congested back there...
Two riders were approaching.
But for now, let's content ourselves with hiding the rocket launcher behind a wall of AAs. Make those B-Copters come to us.
I've now built five AAs as Sensei in this mission. The irony is staggering.
Day 14
The bad news is that one of my B-Copters got downed by a fighter. The good news: Lightning Strike is charged.
Gotta play through the turn first, though. So let's start out by taking down this fighter.
While the fighters dogfight, my B-Copters get into a brawl with Hawke's ground forces.
As with Sensei, I'll just make sure that my HQ is covered against surprise T-Copters.
And let's build a medium tank to help Andy out.
Round 2.
Downing the bomber that was lurking over to the east.
Sadly the other fighters don't have targets they can hit, but they can at least move into position over here.
B-Copters continue to brawl.
Middie moves up, and I build a couple more infantry.
On to Andy. Hyper Repair's charged, but we'd better wait for Black Storm first. I have a feeling it won't be long...
Time to clear this chokepoint. Rocket takes out 4HP tank, AA takes out 5HP artillery, tank takes out 1HP neotank.
The artilleries move up to reinforce the bridge.
And yeah, why not, let's have a neotank.
... okay, this is odd. Apparently building an anti-air meant that Hawke decided to send a fighter and a battle copter down here to check it out. A fighter and a B-Copter. Against an AA.
Sometimes I really don't know what makes the AI tick.
Over in the east, my AAs take down Hawke's other B-Copters while my rocket assaults the black cannon.
Units do some moving. Since I've just plonked an AA into black cannon range, I may as well move an infantry in there too, with the AA acting as sacrifice.
Blackness storms my heart like a black stormy... storm.
I don't think I'm cut out for emo poetry. Best stick to limericks. Anyway, it's farewell from Hawke, and it's farewell from me!
To Be Continued!