Part 35: Chapter 35 (Battle) - Return Of The Tankslayer

Update 35 (Battle) - Return Of The Tankslayer

It's been a while, huh? Worry not, folks - I'm back.

Let's not waste any more time, then - here we go!



So, the votes came in - blue team is going to be Sensei and Rachel, though Sensei's not going to see any actual combat. Rachel is a super important choice though. On the red side, we're using the powerhouses Max and Grimm! The red team only has one goal, and by god, we're going to fucking achieve it.



And with that, we are in fact ready! I have a winning strategy and Rose Kuroda on my side, so these chumps are screwed.



Today’s Deployments
Red Team
Fleur, Infantry
Fliss, Infantry
Dave, Infantry
Michael, APC
Gordon, Recon
Von Panzer, Tank
Selena, Medium Tank
Boris, Medium Tank

Blue Team
Alfonse, Mech
Dimitri, Mech
Fenya, Mech
Arqa, Mech
Iago, Mech
Alina, Mech
Ludmilla, APC
Nika, APC
Vanessa, Recon
Jacquelyn, Recon
Lucy, Artillery
Ingo, Artillery
Rin, Artillery
Harlow, Artillery
Carter, Rockets
Eva, Rockets
Fred, Rockets



Check out the guns on that beast! I gotta get me one of those.

No kidding! I want twelve.

My dude, we can barely afford your medium tank budget as is, let alone megatanks on top of that...



So, let's begin. There's not much happening on this map, but small errors lead to large problems, so we have to start taking action from the first turn - the red team's job is to plug up that mountain pass down below and choke the enemy's vehicles, whilst the blue team's ranged units take out the foot soldiers and ranged units, who say "fuck you" to mountains and/or chokepoints respectively.



And who better to choke a god damn point than Mathis Von Panzer?

"Harrumph! I shall hold the enemy here - they shall break themselves upon Von Panzer!"



Next thing we need is some infantry to get to capturing. We need money if we want big tanks.

Von Panzer is a good wall, but we really want a medium tank on that base down below to be completely untouchable.



So! Fleur and Fliss are here to help.

"We must capture the buildings around, Fliss." Fleur says, looking around. "And... are those tours de communication in the fog?"

"C-comm towers?" Fliss says. "We should get those to help Von P-Panzer!"

Thus, we end the turn - blue team next.



Bah hah ha! Bigger is definitely better. Think I can supersize my copters?

Supersized copters... imagine, Rose. The beautiful fusion of a medium tank and a battle copter.

...I can't say I'm not tempted by the thought.



So, the blue team have a lot to do - we need to slow this lot down and do as much damage as possible, but we have to be really careful about how we do it. I'll explain why later. First things first, though, we have four mechs who can stand on nearby mountains, and that vision is going to be very useful.



Up top, Alfonse (left) and Dimitri (right) take their positions. They'll be staying here for basically the rest of the map.



We also have two spare mechs down below. So on the right, Iago takes the mountain position whilst Alina hops into Nika's APC.

"Hey, Nika!" Alina says, beaming at her fellow Snowbound mercenary. Nika grins.

"Ready to go? Orders from Dimitri came through - he's spotted something important in the fog, wants us to go check it out. As much as I'd love to stay here and get a good view of what that megatank can do... orders are orders."

"Is that so? Let's go check it out, then!" Alina replies. "Full speed ahead!"



Over here, Fenya stands on the mountain whilst Arqa hops into Ludmilla's APC, also bound north.



"I've sighted enemy artillery in the fog." Fenya says into the transceiver as she reaches the peak.

"Ranged units?" Dimitri replies, grimacing. "We'd better get our own rockets on the case, and fast."



Unfortunately, it's not going to be that fast. Javier has enormous defensive bonuses against ranged units, so even this favourable match-up becomes barely a scratch. Still, we can weaken it, so I let Carter take the shot.



The artillery we have down here, Lucy, takes a shot at the other enemy artillery in the fog. We could finish it off with Eva, in the rockets, but Eva's gotta get up north as soon as possible, so we can't spare the time.



Speaking of, let's get moving, Eva. You have stuff to shoot later.



Ingo can take a shot at it, though, he's not doing anything right now.



That's about all we can do for now. Once the enemy disperses from the HQ, we'll be able to make better use of our ranged units. It'd also be nice if they switched to Jess so my indirects can do some actual damage.



Here we go.



The enemy begin moving, and one of them's gone for the comm tower in the middle here. There's no way to get at this, so no matter what, Javier's gonna have at least one comm tower active at all times. And that's annoying.



This is roughly how the enemy shape up - there's a recon hidden in the forest next to Von Panzer, too. They've not made it to the chokepoint yet, so we're fine for now.



And they switched! Excellent - time to counterattack whilst I can.



It's not just because I can do more damage with my indirects - we also want to charge Jess' meter more than Javier's - again, I'll explain why when we get to it.



Back to me. Let's see here...



More capturing...



Though Fliss, on the left, doesn't capture. I want her to go for the better stuff further down - the airport and the comm tower. I deploy Dave to capture the buildings closest to the HQ... and to do Something Else Later.



Since the Green Earth forces are moving towards my units now, I also switch to Max instead of Grimm.



Since he suffers no defensive penalties, you know, and the only thing the red team is doing is holding a chokepoint. Seems sensible.

Blue team, meanwhile...



Alina pulls up her transceiver. "Dimitri, Commander Rachel, your suspicions were correct - Green Earth have the comm towers under their control."

"Thought so." Dimitri says. "We need to cut off Javier's source of power - Alina, take the rightmost tower, and Arqa, get the leftmost one."



Arqa replies as she arrives at the other comm tower. "On it, sir!"

I thought Javier's units seemed a bit too bulky. This explains it. We need to take those towers ASAP.



Now, I know what I said about needing Eva up north, but we do need to get rid of all these pesky foot soldiers, so I take the shot here. May as well take advantage of the enemy not being Javier right now.



Lucy can finish him, too.



The artillery that Carter weakened last time can be finished off by Harlow, the artillery on this side.



And this luckless infantry gets Carter'd. Mostly.



Rin, up here, meanwhile, takes a shot at the medium tank. This is the most important attack in the entire map. Just you wait.



Meanwhile, our rockets up north, Fred, fire at the mechs. Like I said, they're pests and will walk all over our mountains, so they need to go down.



And that's about our turn. We'll be moving our indirects north once we've dealt with the last couple of threats, in order to gather them around the chokepoint and really make the enemy regret existing. Nonviolently. We, uh, we did make sure to pack the nonlethal rounds, didn't we..?



Well, none of our units have been paintballed yet, so we're doing OK.



Javier gets a third tower under his control. Urgh.

I forgot to actually check Javier's CO info, didn't I? I'm sure the thread can summarise it better than me - and I'll run over it when I get to use him myself - but in short, comm towers increase his unit's defence as well as offense, and he gets a huge defensive bonus against ranged units. Pretty fun to see a defensive CO, but an absolute pain to fight with mostly indirects.



The units continue moving up. "Post! Von Panzer can't hold off several medium tanks and a megatank!" I hear you cry.



You know that thing that keeps happening in these games, where a weak unit that can't do damage sits in front of a bulky enemy, preventing any units that COULD actually do damage from getting close?

Yeah, that. With this recon.

"Lorelei, why are you blocking up the pass?" says Abelard over the Green Earth transceiver. Lorelei, the poor recon, sighs.

"I wanted to sneak past, but there's no space - and now the snow and forests mean I can't really get back easily. I'm trapped between a rock and a hard place!"

"Dammit, we'll need to wait for Jess to help out." says Conrad, grimacing. "Urgh, just our luck... I bet there's indirects everywhere in the fog. Brace yourselves, everyone!"



The group do brace themselves, by switching to Javier, who laughs and scorns at your desires to hit him with indirects. Ha ha ha! _{Fuck you.}



Right. Let's get on with the capturing and indirecting and stuff, then.



Fleur captures something!



Fliss and Dave make a start!



And we'll need an APC for a bit of convenience later, so I deploy one - Michael, obviously.

"Hey, Dave, let me know when you're done with capturing. I have special orders from my dude."

"Special orders, huh?" Dave replies, grinning. "Heh. Sounds good to me. I shouldn't be long."

"Whoa, what are you planning?" Rin says over the transceiver, but Dave just chuckles.

"Wait and see, kid."



That's all from the red team for now - the blue team's where all the action is happening.



I think a few of the weakened foot units might head back to the HQ, so I'm sending Carter to get in range of it. That'll make them think twice about going back.



On the right, our indirects head up, guided by the recon, Jackie.



And we make a start capturing those comm towers.



Alina, too!



Since Javier's got 3 towers and I would be doing squat damage anyway, I take the chance to rearrange Ingo and Fred so that they're making best use of their range.



I begin moving Harlow north to join Rin, who's just sitting in the trees, waiting to shoot stuff.



And what are these losers up to, in the meantime?



Their weakened artillery - Sebastian - fires on Dimitri for...



...basically no damage.

"That all the paint you got?!" Dimitri asks. "C'mon, you barely even touched my shoes!"



And that's all they can do whilst Lorelei is still stuck in the pass.



We're gonna move Fleur down to that base, so she hops into Michael to get there quickly.



Perfect.



Fliss and Dave continue capturing things on the left, too.



As usual, not much else to do. Von Panzer is still Von Panzering.



And now, it's the blue team's turn, and here's some sneaky shit. So, we need to weaken Javier's mech and artillery to protect Dimitri and Ingo, but if we weaken them too much, Javier will get his CO Power. Somehow, through doing this map more than once mystical means, I know that he will ALWAYS use his COP if he gets it this turn, but we don't want that right now - we need a Tag Break later.

So, the solution? Capture one tower to lower Javier's defensive buffs...



And this is his meter beforehand.



Fire on the enemy with a one...



...and a two!



And now we've weakened them enough to prevent them from killing my units, but not done so much damage that we gave Javier his COP.



If we'd captured both towers at the start of the turn, we'd have done too much damage. Suck on that, Javier - I control how much damage you take.



Eva and Lucy catch up in the meantime. We still need them.



And Carter's in place to take out anyone who heads for the HQ.



Here's hoping they switch back to Jess next turn.



This mech, Wallace, attacks.

"Dimitri, right?" he says. "Eat paint, lad!"



Unfortunately, it doesn't go well for him. Wallace sighs as he's splattered with paint.

"Huh, looks like I'm a bit out of practice..."



The artillery goes for Fred, but leaves him with 5HP.

That, uh, stands for "Has Paint".



There we go! Back to Jess, so we can properly counterattack next turn.



Here we fucking go.



I mean, OK, the foot soldiers are just capturing; blue team will be doing most of the counterattacking.



But now we can purchase a medium tank! Selena rolls onto the battlefield. "Von Panzer, I'm coming to back you up. Still holding strong?"

"Ach! They haven't even tried to approach me." Von Panzer replies. "But I would be grateful for the backup, Selena!"



The red team, as they shape up this team. Michael's on his way to collect Dave, for that Something Else Later.



Arqa, now that she's done her job, is just getting moved closer to the action. Harlow's nearly caught up to his new friend Rin, too.



This poor bastard - Mina - though she could heal on the HQ. Carter swiftly corrects her.

"Oh, man! Drake's gonna be so disappointed that his star student performed so poorly." Mina grumbles as she heads inside. "If there'd been any naval combat in this battle, it would have been a different story!"



The two damage artilleries joined up, which would have been a good idea if Green Earth hadn't switched back to Jess, invalidating any defensive bonuses. As such, Eva, from afar, can crush it with no problem.



Dimitri finishes off Wallace.

"Wahahah!" Wallace says, grinning as he steps away from the battlefield. "The young'uns really are something, aren't they? As one of the Old Guard, I'm happy to bow out to a youth with such skill."

"...I'm thirty-three." Dimitri says, raising an eyebrow, but Wallace has already wandered off. "I don't look that damn youthful, do I?"



"Ingo, are you approaching the megatank?" Lucy says with worry. Ingo nods.

"I wanna see what it can do. We're allowed to use live rounds on the megatank, right?"

"Of course you are." Abelard, within the megatank, says. "But don't think that makes it easy."

Ingo fires off a deadly shot with his artillery, and it's a direct hit on the megatank, slamming into it - the shell explodes violently, but as the smoke clears...



"That barely did anything?!" Ingo yelps.

"Let me try!" Fred shouts, firing off a rocket shot.



"Still nothing." Ingo murmurs. "What the hell is this tank made of, the stuff that Black Hole pipes are made of?"

Abelard nods. "Young Ingo, isn't it? This is the megatank, the most powerful vehicle ever fielded - unmatched in all four countries, it shrugs off all comers and destroys all opposition. You'd need a lot more firepower if you want to even dent it. So come, young man! Show this old hand what the Allied Nations can really do!"

"How the hell do we even take it out? Not even live rounds worked?" Dimitri whispers.

"We'll need something stronger." Eva says, narrowing her eyes. "Better hope the Commander and Rose cook something brilliant up!"



Rin all-but-deletes the last mech, in the meantime, meaning I'm pretty much safe from all threats now. God fucking bless Von Panzer. And also dumb AI.



I arrange the units like so. Not much to do now but plink them with ranged units until we get to the enemy's Tag Break - that's what I'm waiting for. It's why we attacked the megatank this turn - we need Jess to have more meter than Javier, as I said before. Then we activate the Tag Break.



But we can't activate it yet. We need to get everything in position first.

And also it's their turn.



Gasp! More infantry! Thankfully, probably not much of a threat.



The COs switch again, putting Javier back in control. That's exactly what we want.



You may be wondering what the plan is, and I promise I'm not withholding it arbitrarily. I just want to explain it when it actually happens.



Fliss gets the airport! Spoilers: we will not use it even slightly. But I feel better with it under my control.

_{I'm not dependent on bombers. I can quit anytime I want.}



Michael gets himself in position to pick up Dave. It was also around this time I realised that the APC looks different - presumably because we led with a Yellow Comet CO, we have the Yellow Comet-themed unit designs. I don't think I've noticed that before. Then again, Yellow Comet's units are noticeably different compared to the other countries, so it stands out.



And this is how we end the turn - Selena's going to be swapping places with Von Panzer next turn, in time to trigger the Tag Break. We need to try not to do any damage this turn so we don't trigger it early.



So I just spend the turn rearranging all the indirects over here, and resupplying them with Nika.



"All good, guys?" Nika asks anxiously.

"Yup, perfect." Ingo says. "...How much of the military budget goes to buying all of this paint, do you think?"



And thus, we hold back from attacking. Pay attention to the meters on the right, though; the Green Earth COs aren't the only ones close to getting their SCOP...



The last mech and infantry move into positions where they can be easily sniped by my indirects. So, uh, thanks for co-operating, guys?

Green Earth, as usual, can't do much more, so let's put them out of their misery.



Our turn, and for once the red team has some actual stuff to do!



Dave hops into Michael, first things first.

"Are these secret orders from my dude what I think they are?" Dave asks. Michael nods.

"You know it - come on, Ruston. Let's go."



Von Panzer, our loyal brick wall, moves aside to let Selena sit here. She's gonna be necessary - even with the support of the city, Von Panzer can't tank what's coming.

Don't tell him that though. He's the unbreakable wall in our hearts.



And now, finally, Fleur and Fliss make a start on those comm towers. We'll need those, too - we need every attack buff we can get.



Just for safety, I decide to deploy another medium tank: Boris, of Dimitri's Mercenaries.

I have the money, what was I going to do, not deploy a medium tank?



That's all we need to do for now. The stage has been set for Miss Selena Hartford, so let's bring in the big guns!



First things first, we need murder- uh, paint, the remaining foot units. Rin takes this one...



And Carter takes out that one. Man, putting him there was a good damn call.



And now the next job is to poke some stuff until they both get their SCOP.



Yup, fuck you as well.



...Oh, not quite. Javier needs a bit more damage to prepare the Tag Break.



You'll do. Squash 'em, Eva.



That's more like it! We'll be eating a Tag Break next turn - and now I get to explain what the strategy is. So, you know how I said we needed to get Jess to fill up her meter first? It's so that when the Tag Break actually activated, it was Javier using it.



You see, Jes-



What does that even MEAN, Javier, oh my god.

And I thought YOU were the only one who comes up with ridiculous comments in battle.

Aw, are you not fond of my ridiculous comments? I bet you think I'm really funny and cool, actually, despite pretending not to like me.

My dude. You're projecting again.



Sorry, that line was excellent and deserved my full attention. So! You see, Jess' SCOP gives her units more movement, which means that Lorelei, the recon, can move out of the way and allow something else to move in and crush Selena. Then Javier would get his, finish Selena off, pour through my wrecked chokepoint, and then have massive defensive buffs for the next turn.



With Javier going first, he can't attack Selena, so his entire SCOP is a waste.



Then he switches to Jess, who can't take Selena out with one hit, thus meaning the chokepoint holds.



All her units get refreshed, and Lorelei prepares to move out of the way.

The other fun fact is - there's a small chance that Jess COULD take out Selena. Or at least, there was.



A medium tank comes charging out, having been hidden in the forest for most of the battle, to attack Selena. If this tank was at full HP, it'd paint her before she knew what was up, and the chokepoint would fall. But guess what?



Yeah. That was this tank.



"Hah! Is that all?" Selena says, grinning. She looks incredible atop her medium tank, hair flowing in the breeze and her eyes blazing with passion. Matilda gasps.

"You withheld... my medium tank?" she murmurs.

Atta girl, Selena!

Our gambit worked perfectly. You see now why I recommended we attack Matilda early on?

Yes, yes. And you see why I wanted to get Javier to begin the Tag Break?

...Yes, my dude. It seems our combined talents won us this battle.

It's not over yet. There's a megatank coming our way.



And there we have it - the Tag Break, the most dangerous turn on the map, is done with!



Now it's our turn to get a SCOP up and running.



First things first, Fliss and Fleur capture the comm towers. That attack boost might just be exactly what we need for this.



Then I move my invincible bulwark, Selena, out of the way, and plop down a defenceless infantry unit in front of the entire Green Earth army.

I swear I didn't just lose my mind.



And then I switch to Grimm, who has weaker defences. Bear with me here.

Do you know what you're doing, my dude?

Why should that stop me?



On the blue team's turn, our only goal is doing as much damage as possible, for one specific reason.



Yes, yes, paint them all!



Man, Eva and Fred are actually doing some damage to this thing now. The megatank's not completely invincible, though it's unbelievably bulky.



Anti-airs are... not as bulky. Unfortunately for them.



This tank was just asking for some paint to the face. And why did we do all of that, you ask?



Oh, just getting the best SCOP. Again.



Yes you are, Rachel, crush them.



Rachel's COP might be useless, but god damn, her SCOP is genuinely incredible. It's like, Meteor Strike levels of good, but arguably more useful since it can hit multiple different targets.



BOOM! Imagine this happening three times.



And thus, virtually everything is left with 1HP, so it won't take long to do cleanup now.

"Gah! Paint from above?!" Abelard says. "Hm... these soldiers really are a well-oiled fighting force. I'm highly impressed."

"So what, you're just gonna let them paint us?" Henry says. "Why not go over and, heh, paint the town red?"



In order to prevent anyone from retreating to the HQ, Fenya and Iago block the way. Nowhere to run now.



The only way out is through the pass.



The megatank rumbles up the pass, with Abelard in control. He nods. "Hm. A little arrogant, don't you think, that a mere infantry unit could hold off the megatank, weakened as it is? The megatank is using live rounds, you know. I'll be sure not to hit anybody."

Fixing the cannon squarely on the soldier ahead of him, Abelard suddenly widens his eyes. It's too late, however - he's already opened fire.



The shots ring out, but they go wide. Abelard stares in horror. "You're not just any infantry unit... are you?"

"Got it in one." Dave Ruston replies, grinning and holding a machine gun by his side. "The name's Dave. I think we fought together in the last war. But if you think this enormous tank and some flashy words were going to be enough to stop me, then..."

Dave spots the weakness - a small dent in the side of the megatank, made by one of Ingo's artillery shots earlier. The slightest seam, the smallest rupture... the key weakness. Dave continues grinning and opens fire, charging forwards as the megatank fires at him.



"You've got another damn thing coming!"

There's a gigantic explosion from inside the pass, and on both sides of the battlefield, soldiers from all four nations watch as the machine built to challenge heaven itself, the most powerful ground unit ever built by human hands, is destroyed, the smoking pieces of the vehicle crashing down around the victor - Dave Ruston, the Tankslayer.

I REFUSE to believe that worked.

I told you, I told you! They've yet to build a tank that Dave cannot kill. The Megaultimate Disrespect is real, I can't believe it!

Megaultimate Disrespect? Because it's a megatank. Does that mean what Vanessa did in the last campaign was a Mediumultimate Disrespect?

Don't be so silly, Rose. That would be a Supreme Disrespect. Come on.



The allies are as strong as we'd heard. We cannot get careless, Jess.

Agreed. Seeing the Tankslayer in action... They'll make good allies, but now it's our turn to make an impression.



And apparently the best way to do that is to switch to Javier. Probably wise, to be fair, since he takes less damage from ranged units, but considering the absolute shambles that the Green Earth forces are in, I don't think it's going to change much.



So, let's finish them off. Unfortunately the red team can't really help in that regard. But we can send-



oh god damn it



FUCK IT. BLUE TEAM. PAINT EVERYTHING.



LEAVE NOTHING UNPAINTED



Thankfully it's not to hard to clear out the last of these units with our indirects. That tank is out of range, but it can't retreat to heal, so we're fine.



Well done, Rin.



Green Earth have one tank left. They, uh, can't do much.



It parks itself next to Dave but wisely does not attack him.



So let's just end it. In style, though, obviously.

"Hey, Meteor, I already got a cool tank kill." Dave says, gesturing to the tank in front of him - the cheeky form of Quincy is within. "She's all yours."



"Don't mind if I do. C'mere, eat paint!" Dimitri shouts.

"Aw, man, I'm out! Still, I lasted longer than everyone else, so I'm chalking that up as a moral victory." Quincy replies, chuckling. "Nice job, you guys!"



Young master, Javier willingly entrusts you with his life.

Thank you, Javier. It's an honour serving alongside you.

Who taught you to speak so respectfully? I've never heard you talk like that.

Rachel! You insult my dignity. A knight always speaks in a gentlemanly manner, for his honour may be besmirched otherwise.

Nell taught him. Or, more accurately-

Max! Don't embarrass me-

-he taught himself after Nell said "if you don't start speaking with a bit more respect in these meetings, you'll be sleeping on the sofa for the rest of your life".

Heh heh. That sounds like Nell.

We finally have COs from all four nations. It's time to counterattack!

Here are the megatank schematics. Now you can build them for yourselves.

JAKE! C'mere, we got megatanks!

ROCK! I'm gonna roll in style now!

Jake, loud music, and a megatank? Black Hole should run far, far away!

Never mind my dude and a megatank... is anyone in this army even qualified to drive one? Besides Tina... I bet she wishes she was here.

God, Tina would LOVE a megatank.

I'll tell her all about it in my next letter!



And with that, the next map is done! What a thrilling encounter.



And a few of our units promote again! Max hits Rank 1, and Rachel hits Rank 2. That'll be useful, the more COs that can use skills, the better.



I love that Rachel and Sensei get the victory lines despite the red team... well, no, actually, the blue team DID do most of the work. Sensei did fuck-all, though.

We have unlocked the ability to deploy units as megatanks!

Some soldiers have discovered a talent for controlling megatanks, and the Proficiencies of some soldiers have been updated to reflect this. You can check the details of soldier proficiencies in The Allied Nations: Soldier Overview, available on the contents page.



So, let's get a little preview of the next map before we move on.



Their backs are to the wall, and I've got two piperunners ready for action. But I'm more curious about what you think of our new Black Hole Army, Lash.

It's as evil as ever, isn't it? World domination and all that.

"World domination and all that", amazing.

We've drained so much of the planet's energy that it's turning into a wasteland. What's the point? Is this prize worth dying for? Is this a noble end?

What's the big deal? We can always just fix it later. Right?

I'm the one who disposed of Sturm, and this short leash is beginning to chafe. This is no way to use a trained army. Maybe it's not for me to say, but...

If someone wants to use the army to pursue his own personal goals...

Shoosh! What are you whining about? This isn't like you at all, Hawke! In fact, you're starting to sound a lot like the Director!

I can't deny I feel some sympathy. She was promised vengeance on her country... not the complete ruination of her world.

The allies are gonna escape! I think you'll feel better after you crush 'em.

You may be right. I better deal with the problem at hand first. Bring the Director to me.

Hm. Intriguing.



Oh, this doesn't look fun. How did we even manage to get ourselves into this sticky of a situation?



Yeah, no shit, Jake.

Do we head for the sea or keep it on the ground?

That's a tough call. But if we take out the three minicannons on the left, we'll take the wind out of their sails. Let's head in that direction. To check a minicannon's range of fire, touch and hold it for a few seconds. The highlighted area shows how far they can fire. Try to stay out of that range.

Man, tutorialising really runs in the family, huh?



If they get around to us, we're going to be in a lot of trouble.

They can only move on these pipes. If we can destroy the joints, they won't be able to get this far.

But if we create an opening in the pipe, the enemy forces will pour in.

We can more easily choke Black Hole's forces at a seam than we can deal with powerful ranged threats.

Agreed. I'd take the army over the piperunners, but... I wonder what the best approach is here...

We're in quite a pickle, eh?

Sitting here yapping ain't improving the situation! Let's get with the busting!

Forcing our way out as Jake and Grimm have suggested is definitely an option. And word is the enemy has a research lab near Cape Houdan.

Oh, god, we need to find a map for that. Rose, get a task force together, would you?

Already on it. I'll send Vanessa with some troops.

Sounds good. I think we might find a map leading to it in one of the cities on the coast here. We may not have the manpower to spare, but finding it would be a big bonus.

Don't worry, Commander Rachel. We'll acquire it.

You got it. Let's roll. We've got three minicannons to level.

Minicannons, huh? Someone get me six bombers and let's get to work!



So, let's take a quick look at the map. It's on the larger side...



With some naval things going on down here. That silo might be useful.



Ooh, a bomber behind the minicannons. That's not nice at all. I guess that's why we've been given the missiles, though... if I can just lure it over to the pipes.



And some Neotanks amongst the enemy forces, above and below. Yeesh. This is going to take some doing, isn't it?

Right then. Place your votes, how do we get through this one unscathed?

***

Update 36 (Intermission) - By The Goddess’ Will