Part 13: Good Chowder, Man!

Well, we've been conscripted, I guess. Time to head north into the middle of the ocean and meet up with this Greyfield person. I'm sure he's nice. He has Davis working for him, after all.






: ...WELL?! Don't just stand there like a slack-jawed idiot! Send him in!

: ...Admiral.


...I already hate you. We showed skills beating up a former soldier and some crazy scientist and his kids. With minimal losses, even!

: For now.

: Yes, I remember you now! An adequate soldier, but crippled by ideological limitations! Your lack of patriotism and devotion was an insult to your Rubinelle heritage.

: The 12th Battalion always fought with honor and respect for the rules of war.

: Rules of war? Ha ha ha! Rules... You really are a relic from another age, Captain.

: Hey, uh... Come on, now. We're all soldiers of Rubinelle, yeah? We should all pull together against the enemy.


: We gotta plow the Lazurians into the ground. There's time for dancing when that's done.

: Oh, good. Waylon's here.
My thoughts exactly.

: Oh, you know it ain't a party 'til I arrive, brother man! That's straight-up truth! Oh, yeah, and thanks for bailing me out of that jam. The ladies of the world thank you.

: Couldn't resist the draw of the high life, huh, Waylon? This paycheck help you sleep at night?


: Round here? They treat me right! Give me anything I ask for. I do whatever I want, too, and everyone's too scared to say boo!

: Typical.

: L-look...Admiral Greyfield has taken over the former military and built the New Rubinelle Army. But we need help to beat those crafty Lazurians.

How adorable, he's cowering in fear. About par for the course for Davis so far, really.

: The Lazurians are an enemy to freedom-loving people everywhere! There can be no peace until they are wiped from the face of the planet.

: Yeah, so, it's like a war for peace. Right? The enemy forced us into it. Are you with us, Captain?

: ...I don't want this idiotic war to continue any longer than ii already has. If my men can end this fighting a day sooner, then we will help.

: Yes! I don't believe it!

: Hmmm...yes. I suppose you may be a modicum of help. But we will have to wait and see... Go to the Rubinelle Sea. The hated Lazurians have been seen in the area.


: ...I hope this is over soon.

: For a man of Rubinelle, he lacks moral flexibility and respect for power.
Admirable traits in a human, those.

: Y-yes, sir! B-but I always remember him as a good fighter...




: Yes, Captain. They are awaiting your orders.

: One wrong move, and the Lazurians will be all over us. Greyfield sent only a handful of units, and this force is formidable.

: Captain Brenner?

: Yes, Will?

: Why did the Lazurians start this war? Why would they do that? I don't understand what there is to fight over.

: I imagine they saw this as a chance to settle some unfinished business. Sometimes I can almost understand the feeling.

: I still don't get it...


: But the Great War caused unspeakable horror for our two countries. We've traded black eyes with the Lazurians for over a century. The meteors changed everything but the hatred between our nations.

: But still...

: I fear this war won't end until one side secures military victory. We have to force them to surrender. We have no other choice. Now let's move!


Alright, so here we are. A lot of people expressed in the thread they had trouble with this mission. It throws you straight into the middle of a naval battle with little introduction to the units. Here we see our main fleet, with a second submarine underneath the terrain panel in the bottom right. Also, we have yellow allied units. Who leads them? More on that later.

Will takes the lead, despite Greyfield telling Brenner to do the job. Plot related, but still strange. Oh well.

And the moderately impressive Lazurian fleet. Couple new units, and both sides have access to them this time around.


First, the big boy of the waters, the Battleship. Like previous Advance Wars titles, it's a ranged naval vessel. It's different here though, as it can FIRE AFTER MOVING. It's downgraded in range to that of a rocket (3-5), and deals less damage than it did in previous games, but still. This thing has an effective range of 10 thanks to the 5 movement range plus the 5 firing range. Used properly, this ship can wreck both land and sea.


Unless it gets attacked by this. The Submarine is unchanged from previous Advance Wars games, able to almost completely destroy any ship on open water save for the cruiser, to which it is incredibly weak against. It also has the ability to dive, rendering itself invisible unless adjacent to an enemy, and cannot be targetted by any unit save for another sub or a cruiser in this state. These things are great, but expensive.


To begin, I start building temp. seaports, for no real reason. We have no income, so we can't heal. They'd be nice to help refuel multiple targets between it and the rigs.


After that, it's time for combat. The gunboat fires a salvo at the Lazurian battleship, and the sub runs in, unhidden, to finish it off. 74%, and the battleship is in mist for a minor defence boost? I like it!


With that dealt with, I need to consider the fact my main attacking unit, the sub, is now open to gunboat assault from the north.


This'll work nicely. While not killing, it's still rather damaging, leaving the gunboat at 1 HP.


Our other sub dives while heading east towards another battleship and a gunboat. Rough water gives a decent defensive boost, similar to standing in a forest, while making it harder for boats to sail through. A decent tradeoff if you're looking for an edge.


Our cruisers split up, to cover both attacking forces in case that sub strikes, and also to give some AA support. Meanwhile, the battleship and gunboat team up and take out the enemy's gunboat. Good placement here also means this gunboat will be resupplied next turn, ready to strike again. Our duster flies down to stick with the main mass of ships in case the enemy fighter tries anything suspicious.


And that's all for Day 1. Rather damaging opening move. Allied turn next, then we see the response from Lazuria.




Oh God, you again?


...You killstealing asshole! That was experience Iwanted!


Guess who we face!
: Requesting permission to engage the Rubinelle forces, sir.


Oh, General Forsythe is one dapper looking man, compared to the blob of an Admiral we have.

: General Forsythe? If you like, I can boost your chances of victory. I have prepared some special gifts for you and your men.

: Gifts?

: Yes, gifts! Weapons with the power to grant you an effortless victory! Such as a device with the power to freeze troops solid? It uses a specially developed formula created in my labo--


: Weapons of that ilk are banned by international and military law.
I love that line. I don't know why, but I love it.

: Law? What does that mean now? There is no law in this world! A wise man would use all means at his disposal to ensure victory.

: I am an old, tired soldier, Caulder, but one who fights with honor. I will not sully the proud name of Lazuria with your foul weapons.

: I don't think that position will prove popular among your troops.

: My good man, I am grateful for the aid you have given my army.

: But I simply will not abide the use of such terrible weapons!

: That is regrettable.

: General Forsythe, leave it to me! I'll destroy these filthy Rubes!

Caulder is playing all the fields trying to kill us. This... isn't good. At least Forsythe seems reasonable. In that he wants to kill us, just with HONOR.


Not much happened on the enemy phase. Tasha moved a bunch of her units forward, our subs are still safe, and we have new targets to play with. The cursor location marks where the enemy sub dived at. Nothing we can do about it this turn, but something to keep in mind with our movement.


To start, I move our B-Copter back, then realize it's still in range of the enemy fighter. The result is this mishmash of units trying to keep both our copter and duster alive. Provided Waylon doesn't do anything on his turn.


That aside, it's time to attack again. The battleship moves up and strikes immediately (easily my favourite change this game made from it's predecessors.)


And the sub slides over one and finishes the job. Our other sub moves into the middle of the mist field and waits.


Our last unit to move, the gunboat with experience, takes a spot to the northwest of where it was, joining the main body of units. That's all for us.But not all for Will.


: Um...hello? I mean...attention? Come in, please. I want to speak to the Lazurian commander. Can you hear me?



: ...John? Is that you? JOHN?!

: ...What?

: No, that's...that's impossible. John is...

: What are you talking about?!

: This is Wing Commander Tasha of the Lazurian Airborne. Identify yourself!

: Um...I'm Will. I'm a member of the 12th Battalion. Uh...of Rubinelle. But listen! I don't want to fight! The Great War is over!

: It's not over... It's NEVER over! This is about revenge! We fight and fight until Rubinelle is destroyed!

: Look, I know our nations have been at war since before we were both born. And we've all lost friends and family... But revenge won't bring anyone back.

: It may not bring them back, but it will avenge them! And that matters! Could you just forgive and forget! Pah! What a hypocrite!

: I'm not a hypocrite!

: You're a kid! What do you know about war or revenge? You think you know right and wrong, but you've never been tested! All you have are your words and your false bravado. John was my brother. He was killed by your Rubinelle Army.


: But wait...!

: I've said all I'm going to say. I don't want to fight a kid, but if you're with the Rubes, you're going down!

Tasha: possibly the most one tracked mind in any game I've played. It's not a day for her unless she's killing Rubes. As for actions, Waylon flew his duster in like an idiot and weakened the enemy fighter. In response, Tasha blew up the duster with a cruiser, and advanced her fighter towards us. She also attacked our battleship in the south. Her dived sub, meanwhile, sailed right on by our own, ending up somewhere westish of it. Wonderful. It's now a threat.


Graphical view of the above, save for the dived sub, for obvious reasons. I guess first thing is to try and find said sub? Gunboats'll work nicely for this.


There it is. Now I can focus attention on other matters.


For a start, our remaining gunboat takes a shot at the cruiser that damaged our battleship, and our duster severely weakens the fighter.


Northern cruiser eliminates the enemy bomber, and sits in range of the battleship, cruiser AND B Copter. This could have been planned a little better.


As for the enemy sub, cruiser takes the first shot, as even at full health a sub only does 20% damage to cruisers. Our north sub comes in and finishes the job.


South sub goes on a direct mission to take out the cowardly gunboat.


With that, our day ends.


Tasha suicides the fighter on our duster. Not sure how the Wing Commander thought THAT was a good plan, but hey. Free kill for me. Elsewhere, her cruiser and battleship cripple our eastern cruiser. It's done it's part, time to get it our of there.


Gunboat never saw it coming...


Battleship finishes off the weakened cruiser, and in the north, our air force begins flying towards the B Copter.


Cruiser, gunboat, and sub take out the other enemy cruiser, with the sub getting the experience, and the guilty pleasure of killing the unit it's weak to.


Almost done here, but I'm worried the battleship will strike the gunboat, ruining my technique.


It opts to attack our own battleship. I'll take it, I won't need it to win.


It won't stop me from doing 1 HP in damage to her battleship with it, though. Up north, Waylon had damaged Tasha's B Copter with his own. I then attacked it with my duster, and our B Copter finishes the job.


Dammit, was hoping the sub could kill it. Cruiser swings around and sinks her battleship.



: I'm so sorry, General Forsythe! I swear we will have revenge!



: How long must this war go on...?
Until Tasha has her REVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENGE!!!!!!! Or we wipe the floor with them some more. Either or. Anyway, S Rank, no casualties for us, Waylon is still a killstealing bastard. All is as it should be.



: OK. We'll split up and begin searching for survivors...

: Well, look what the cat dragged in! It's Captain Courageous's cabin boy. And look at you! Running all over hell and breakfast helpin' the wounded.

: Captain Waylon?

: Waylon, kid! Waylon! No need to sound so uppity! I ain't some fancy-pants general. So how is the good captain, eh? Still tryin' to save the world like a chump?

: Captain Brenner is a great man!

: What?!



: Pshaw, kid! I'm just pullin' your chain a little. That's all.

This reminds you of Greyfield, how?

: He wants to see me?

: 'Fraid so. And he ain't a fella that likes to wait, if you know what I mean. So hit the road, and tell the great man that I said hello. ... What are you still doin' here, brother man?! Get going! Go on! Shoo!
Well then, let's not keep his worship waiting...




: Hmm? Ah, yes. Will, wasn't it? Yes, yes. Please, do come in. You kept a cool head in that battle, my boy. I'm impressed.

: But you are Rubinelle, and the proud blood of this nation flows in your veins!

: Umm... Thank you?

: What do you think of this life, Will? What do you think of the destruction which gave birth to this brave new world?

: I... I think it's terrible--


I...what? What just happened?

: An error?

: Only the weak view this destruction as terrible. Some defeatists may even claim we deserved it... But they are fools! All of this has been but a test!

: A...test?

: Yes, a test. A test to see who has earned the right of survival. The weak see it as a catastrophe, but the strong see it as opportunity!


: But people died! They lost their lives!

: It is natural that the weak should perish!

: I... I don't...

: This world as it is now demands strength. It demands the strength of Rubinelle. Our long years of war with Lazuria, and the destruction that followed, were all tests. Those who cannot cope with the harsh reality of today do not deserve to survive.







: You think it is natural that they died? You think they failed some crazy test?




: ...

...(It's in italics)

: I thought you were different from that fool Brenner... But I see he has brainwashed you with that nonsense about protecting the innocent!


This scene. I like this scene. It's like Lin telling off the Mayor. You can already start to hate Greyfield, and Will just speaks for the player. It helps that Greyfield is also BATSHIT INSANE

Also...


Okay, so it's only outside the campaign she can be used, but still. Unlocking happens this way, by completing campaign missions.



NEXT TIME!
Oh, FUCK YOU GREYFIELD