Part 63: Chapter 63 (Battle) - Never Trust A Tank To Do A Bomber’s Job
Update 63 (Battle) - Never Trust A Tank To Do A Bomber’s JobHey there, gang! It's time for Let's Play Advance Wars Dual Strike!
If you recall, last time, my dude and the blue forces were saved from a rockety death by Rose, leading the orange team, and now, having successfully survived the enemy's Tag Power, it's time to advance on their HQ and finish this map off.
The first thing we need to do is murder everything that I don't like, which we will be doing for basically the rest of the map.
This guy nearly killed Dimitri, so I certainly don't like him. Fenya kills him real good.
So, now we're in a bit of a pickle. Selena's on 9 fuel, and though she can rise this turn to spend 1 fuel per turn instead of 5, she's 5 spaces away from the port, and I can't capture it this turn since Drake used his Super CO Power.
It's going to be tight, but we can actually sort Selena out - all thanks to Hawke. First, we just need to do a teensy bit more damage...
OK, that's a fuckload more damage, but sure, that'll do. Diana moves out of the way and lets Rose absolutely obliterate this poor enemy tank.
So, clone Drake did 2HP damage to all my units, did he? Thank god for Hawke, then...
You leave me no choice.
Because I have the great equaliser.
BLACK. STORM.
The ensuing damage spreads across all of the enemy units...
...and all of my units are healed for 2HP - the exact amount of damage they took from the Super CO Power. And crucially...
I CAN capture the port with Lysander this turn, since he's back to full HP. Our ships are safe - but by god, that was fucking close.
"Port's captured, gals." Lysander says, turning up the charm. "You can come in and get yourselves repaired and fuelled up. Maybe we can chill together-"
"Thanks, Lysander. I'll move in and refuel, then head north." Selena commands, completely ignoring Lysander's advances. "Lena, you alright for now?"
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Lena says. "Don't sink yourself on my behalf - go refuel."
Selena moves in, and not a moment too soon.
Sofia continues wandering around capturing things. It's the only thing left for her and Lysander to do, really - that comm tower and the port were the most crucial parts of this operation, and that's done now.
My Chokepoint Crew, who are now going to move north into the enemy's range, need a new name. Meet the Wall Of Death - the units that are going to slowly advance on the foe and run over everything until we get to the HQ or die trying. We'll get started on that next turn.
It's time for the blue team to shine! With all the rockets dealt with last time, the only thing left to do here is murder the shit out of this goddamn battleship.
Yeah, you. Fuck you. Ingo fires on the battleship.
4HP is still a bit threatening. Let's soften it up with Lowell.
...Or not. God damn it, Lowell.
I've moved some of my more important units onto cities to heal and refuel, since the blue team don't have a Hawke to heal them. The plan for the blue team is now twofold - the tanks and suchlike are heading south, around the mountains, to join up with the orange team and help in pushing forward. Meanwhile, Rin, the infantry up north, is going to be hopping over these mountains and gunning it for the HQ, once I've killed everything within the vicinity. Dave, the mech, and Michael, the APC, will be helping out.
And, since the "murder everything in Fog of War" segment of the map is over, and the "send an infantry to capture the HQ" segment has begun...
Leave it to me! I'll work something out!
Sami's time to shine. I'll miss Sonja's map-wide support effect, but eh, we're at the advantage now that we've beaten the enemy back, so it's not as crucial that we have it.
Let's see what Black Hole wants to do now. Run? Like little bitch babies?
Well, as always, they're going to try capturing things. It's another benefit of using Black Storm this turn - we can stop this infantry from getting a rather annoying base.
The rest of the enemy... actually do run like little bitch babies. Huh. Didn't expect them to listen to me.
And with that, their turn is over. Nobody wanted to even try taking on Rose in a megatank, which is fair enough. I'd think twice about fighting Rose in a megatank.
Back to us! And, thanks to the enemy getting the fuck out of dodge, we have a great opportunity to press our advantage and move in.
So hey, fuck it, let's do that! Charging blindly into the fog always works out!
First things first, though, some management to do down here. Capturing some more things with Sofia and Lysander, first.
Y'know, I'm pretty sure there's an artillery around here somewhere, too. That could be a problem if left un-murdered, so I send Dimitri north to-
fuck
...Welp, Dimitri found it.
Fenya murders it in the meantime. Well, she mostly does, anyway.
"Thanks, Fenya. Asshole just popped up out of nowhere..." Dimitri grunts. "Wonder how Diana and my girl are holding up?"
Fenya lifts her transceiver as she finishes firing on the artillery. "I'm sure they're fine. They'll let us know if they need backup, but they have Rose, so..."
"Yeah, I guess we don't need to worry." Dimitri replies, grinning.
Selena moves into the port, and I breathe a sigh of relief. 3/60 fuel. Selena, why do you always do this to me?
Rose goes for the megatank, ready to kill it in a single mighty blow.
...I said, "ready to kill it in a single mighty blow".
Rose shrugs. "This was to be expected. I want the megatank to run."
"You do?" Aymil asks.
"Indeed. The enemy will waste 5600 funds repairing it, and whilst it's going back to the enemy properties up north, it gives us time to deal with the medium tanks and other forces." Rose explains. "I have already made preparations for the megatank's destruction - don't worry."
"No need for that, Rose, I can take care of it here and now!" Diana says, charging forward. Rose gasps.
"No, Diana, wait-"
As Diana flies towards the megatank, a terrifying unit comes trundling out of the fog, and she goes white. "Wait, that's..."
"...an anti-air unit." Rose finishes. "It could kill you in a single round of fire. This wasn't in the plan - you must follow orders, Diana!"
"I'm sorry, I just-" Diana says fiercely. "Rrgh! I got too heated, I just charged in. What do I do?"
"I might have an idea..." Rose mutters. She lifts her transceiver. "...my dude? My dude, come in..."
Zlata, in the meantime, moves in to destroy the enemy mech. We really, really don't want them to have more than one base to deploy things. Ideally, they'd have none, but I don't think that's reasonable to expect. I've also refuelled Rose with Aymil - this gives her 3 shots on the enemy phase, which should be enough to clear out anything that dares to attack her.
Lloyd, who's still in decent shape fuel-wise, moves in to keep the artillery in his range. It might have survived Fenya, but it's not going to survived being battleship'd into oblivion.
Darwin moves up to give us an idea of what we're looking at, and yeah... a metric shit-ton of guys. We have our work cut out for us, that's for sure.
We'll have to trust in Rose's plan for now. Meanwhile, the blue team gets a turn!
And finally, at long last, Ingo puts paid to this godforsaken battleship in a pond. Get sunk, punk!
My dude! Come in!
Rose? What d'you need, kid? Diana's gotten herself into a...troublesome situation. But if I know you, then I know you're moving your units towards the edge of the mountains to back us up, is that right? Yeah, Rin's heading over the mountains up north to nab the HQ, and the tank squad's coming round near where your chokepoint was. How does that help? I've send some co-ordinates to you - do you have a ranged unit in range of them? Uh, yes! Petra's right next to that area, actually. You want her to make a shot in the dark? Do it, my dude. It's our only chance of saving Diana. Way ahead of you. Petra! Get these co-ordinates and prepare to make the shot of your life, kid!
Petra's time to shine. She aims her controls carefully, preparing to launch an artillery shot over the mountains, into the fog.
"One of our friends is in danger. And it doesn't matter who it is, if they're in the Allied Nations, then we'll do everything we can to protect them! Here... we... GO!"
The shot rings true, and the transceiver crackles with voices moments afterwards.
"It's weakened! Half the squad was wiped out!" Diana cries victoriously.
"Excellent. You can survive that now, Diana - just take care." Rose replies.
"Woo! I'm so glad I could help!" beams Petra.
"Nice shot, my god..." breathes Conrad.
Petra's cheeks flush and her hand slips on the artillery controls. "Oh, um... thanks, Conrad!"
Now it's time to get our tanks moving - Lowell heads down to catch up with the rest of the crew. The forest slows the blue team down a bit, but it's fine, we'll get there soon enough.
Black Hole, meanwhile, can no longer murder Diana, which I'm sure they find very irritating.
They send another goddamn infantry to this base to try and capture it, which I find very irritating.
The anti-air still goes for Diana, but thanks to Petra's chip damage...
...she comes out of it pretty well. Thank god for that!
With her copter damaged and smoking, Diana turns her sights towards the fog ahead of her. "I'm all good... just need to beat a retreat now. Thanks for everything, Rose, Petra."
Then a bunch
of motherfuckers suicide
into Rose's megatank
Rose nods. "A good use of the cannon ammo. I'm all out now, though..."
"And there's another tank coming your way!" frets Zlata. "Rose, it's firing - you might need to retreat!"
And thus, the cannon opens fire on Rose's weakened megatank...
"This machine is truly unmatched. On the edge of defeat, with no ammo, it still withstands even the mightiest blows. I understand why Abelard made his choice now... behind the wheel of the megatank, you feel like a fortress, behind which every single one of your allies will be protected." Rose says. "But I won't go down just yet. Not until everyone is safe. Not until every last foe has broken themselves upon my tank's defences!"
Is there anything else in the fog, ready to take the kill on Rose..?
...
Oh thank god, they don't have anything else. Rose lives another day!
I mean, she'd have lived anyway, but it's the principle.
Now then, let's keep pushing forward and make these assholes regret being born.
Rose makes a retreat, which is probably wise. She needs to heal up - she's done all she can.
And Lloyd fucks up this artillery with a rather overkill amount of damage.
With Selena all refuelled, I'm now just swapping in each of my ships to get their fuel back, too. Thankfully, none of them are in a worse condition than Selena was, at least.
And we finish off some more captures! Lysander and Sofia have nabbed another comm tower, giving our northern troops some more firepower. That's always handy.
This mech also gets shot by Zlata, just like the last one did. You'd think at some point, they'd learn their lesson about trying to capture this base.
With everything basically done down south, I move Fenya up across the ocean, whilst Dimitri and his mercs, Boris and Ivan, head north to capture a few things and just provide general backup. Dimitri probably wants to heal on a property for a bit first, though. A 3HP tank is going to achieve too much.
The blue team is also going to be doing mostly catchup, so let's get on with that.
Rin gets dropped off on the mountain, having freshly healed up from the city last turn. She's out of range of that mech over there, so she should be fine.
The forests look very tempting, but if Rin runs into an enemy unit and gets herself killed, well, firstly, the thread would be very sad, and secondly, winning the map becomes way more of a hassle. Best to hold her back until I know for sure where the Black Hole units are hiding out.
Dave, the mech, grumbles as he wipes the rain out of his eyes. "God, this is a real drag. You holding up OK, Rin?"
"Of course!" Rin replies. "Reminds me of stormy days out at sea... I kinda like the rain! Maybe not when it's this heavy, though."
"No kiddin'. Just be ready to move ahead - and don't do anything I wouldn't do, alright? I want you to stay safe."
"You got it, Dave. Nothing you wouldn't do." Rin replies, a secret smile gracing her lips.
Alfonse makes a start on capturing the airport down south. Once we get this, it is literally over for Black Hole; the 8 days of not having anything to deploy means that we've amassed a fair amount of funds, which will be immediately spent on as many bombers as we can handle.
The tank crew have made more progress, and the first of our tanks joins the orange squad on the front lines - Conrad, in the Neotank!
"Hey, I'm here." Conrad says. "I'll deal with anything the enemy's got lined up. I'm not gonna lose!"
"Good!" Zlata replies. "I've engineered my tank to perfection - between us, we could probably even take a megatank!"
Well, let's hope that Black Hole only has one of those, and that it's still going back to the HQ to heal up.
We're all good - the most dangerous thing they have is this medium tank, which does decent damage to Conrad, but he can take it, so I'm not too bothered.
Well, OK, the tank was not part of the plan, but he can deal with that too.
5HP left. Fuck me, Conrad, you were on full HP at the start of this turn.
Time to counterattack, then - there's more dipshits hidden in the fog, but between me and Rose, we should be able to predict where they're all going to be lurking. I am a little concerned about how full the enemy's CO Meters are becoming again. One Tag Power was rough enough - two would be bullshit.
I'll worry about that later. First, how do I take out this medium tank..?
Rose turns her tank around, shaking her head. "Actually... I won't step back just yet. If we're to win this, every unit must contribute their all, no matter the damage. Am I understood, Diana?"
Diana, in her smoking battle copter, stares at her barely-functional navigation system, and looks up at the swirling mass of fog and tanks ahead of her. She gives a strange, eerie grin, reminded of her days performing suicidal plans for Wanda - but this time, she knows she'll survive.
"You're fully understood, Rose. Let's do it!"
Diana fires on the medium tank, doing enough damage to finish it off. Woo!
Diana discovers an artillery in the fog, which Zlata can move over to and quickly murder. Thank GOD for Pathfinder.
On Rose's orders, Lloyd moves as far north as he can. You'll see why later on - our other botes are done with their jobs, but Lloyd has one more thing left to do.
I send Fenya up to join Lloyd, too - with Aymil between them, they can both be refuelled, which they kinda needed.
This allows us to discover an anti-air lurking in the fog with like no HP. I send Darwin over to make it extinct.
And hey, wouldn't you know it, it's our old friend megatank!
Let's get the blue team up here, too. We can all hide in the forests and wait for the optimal conditions to charge at Black Hole's HQ.
I guess there's this tank also, I should probably kill him. Von Panzer can take care of business.
Airport get! Y'all already KNOW what's coming next.
This mech's getting all up in my business, though, so Rin hops back into Michael. There's another good reason that I want to do this.
Ingo can move in and murder the mech once it gets closer. I mean, they're going to run out of mechs eventually, right?
Kyril, Von Panzer and Vanessa have caught up to Conrad, and they charge ahead. Lowell and Julian are catching up, but again, the forest is being a bitch.
This might look dangerous, but take a close look at Clake's CO Meter - it's not quite full. As always, I play risky games with CO Meters.
And in the meantime, Black Hole...
...do nothing of note. If you look behind the overlay, we've just found some infantries that have popped out of hiding, and that's basically it.
Fuck it - murder time. Lloyd makes this megatank regret ever existing, and I am grateful - a Tag Power sounds much more survivable now that the enemy's heaviest hitter is reduced to smithereens.
You ever think about how weird a word 'smithereens' is?
My dude! You need to focus. It's not even the blue team's turn! OK, let me rephrase: my dude--I need to focus.Anyway, Ivan is capturing a property.
The troops are rearranged like so - if the enemy does discover any of our units during the Dual Strike, I'd like them to be our highest-HP units, so all damaged units are shunted to the back. We should be fine in this formation.
The blue team's got to bear the Tag Power in mind, too - let's get rid of anything that could be an issue.
Like this fucker. Ingo surprise-rockets him in the face.
"Damn, he held out..." Ingo mutters. "He's using the mountains for cover - I can't get a good shot, and that's before you account for this damn rain."
Dave clambers the mountainside towards the enemy mech, preparing his bazooka. "On it, Ingo - he ain't gonna survive this!"
And he doesn't! Dave gets rid of the biggest threat to Rin. I'm still keeping her in Michael for this turn, though - that way, she avoids the damage from Clone Drake's Clone Tidal Wave.
The enemy's definitely going to hit us hard when that Tag Power activates. But we have one advantage that they sorely lack...
BOMBERS!!
We deploy- well, you already know who it is. Lucy Ophelia Maxwell!
"Ready for battle!" Lucy shouts. "Mountains? Rain? Hordes of Black Hole soldiers? I'll take it all on!"
"Luce! You're a sight for sore eyes." Ingo says. "We were held in pretty tight, but we've got a real chance to fight back now. Go get 'em!"
"Anytime, honey!" Lucy replies sweetly, and the army chuckle as they listen to the exchange. There's something comforting about the presence of the Queen of the Skies, soaring through the air above them.
This isn't as bad as it looks, actually. Our units are all hidden by the forests, so the higher vision of infantry doesn't mean anything - they still have to be next to us to fire on us. And that's if they have any units capable of firing on anything anyway. They have like, what, a tank and an anti-air left, probably? I don't imagine it's much.
Right! I'm ready for a second dose of your Tag Power, gents - maybe this time it'll be a lethal dosage?
...
Or, to put it in a vernacular you might understand better: do your worst, clowns.
As usual, big fuel punch and 2HP damage from Clake, as well as... summoning rain.
Rain^3 now, I guess? Three times the Fog of War! Wait, that sounds terrible, actually, don't do that.
The infantry units wander around and fail to find anything to shoot at. Sucks to be them.
All systems, go.
Jugger's up next, but since he has nothing to fire on...
He just kind of sends his infantry in random directions. They find my troops, but it's sadly too late - his other forces are too far away to actually come down and capitalise on it.
Another Tag Power survived! Two in one map - that's impressive. Go on. Admit it.
As I move Darwin up to scout out the area, I find that the enemy does still have a medium tank sitting around. Well, fuck, I'd best get rid of that before it becomes an issue. I'd really like to block up that base that keeps fucking spawning mechs, too.
Lloyd's firepower will be useful, so I move him up one space more, so he can hit the medium tank and anti-air next turn.
As I move Fenya up, it occurs to me that I have a 2HP bro copter and an 8HP bro copter, so I just join Diana up with Fenya.
"Hey, Fenya. Hope you don't mind me backing you up!" Diana says.
"Not at all. I welcome the support - we're close to the end now, and I'd find it... undesirable to lose here."
Ivan is still just bumbling around here capturing things. It doesn't really matter, but it gives him something to do, at least.
May as well get Boris to nab something too. This base isn't for deploying things... it's just to upset the enemy, because I got to capture it and they didn't.
And thus, we're about ready to move ahead and lay on the finishing blows next turn. That said... Selena's fuel situation is not looking ideal. I'd best get this map done quickly, and also stop moving Selena around.
If you're wondering why I brought her this far north in the first place, it's mostly for the huge amount of vision she provides. Recons are susceptible to being shot, but Selena's safe from anything except ranged units, so she's more useful.
Now, with Rin having weathered the storm safely inside Michael, time to drop her off and finally move towards that HQ. Let's go, blue team!
Another very nice thing - Lucy was still on the airport when the Dual Strike hit, so she's healed and fully refuelled. It's like there wasn't even a Tag Power after all!
Lucy is, uh, not doing as much damage as I would like. The Tag Power must be providing some extra defence. Still, we need to move her off the airport, because as you all know, the only thing better than one bomber..?
Two bombers! Get out here, Peregrine!
"Hey, Luce! I'm ready to get fuck deep into enemy territory!" Peregrine says, grinning with excitement.
Lowell lands a hit on the other infantry in the meantime. They're on roads! Why am I not one-shotting them?
Yes, OK, the 10% defence bonus from the SCOP and Lowell being at 8HP, but STILL...
It's all good - Von Panzer can finish it off no problem.
Peregrine prepares to fly from the airport. "Let's get this show on the road! That said, the rain's a bit of a bitch though, huh, Luce?"
"Just a bit!" Lucy says, beaming. "I can't aim as accurately as normal... did I get a direct hit on the infantry below, guys?"
"Not quite," Kyril says, preparing his cannon to fire. "But I can clean up down here. You guys focus on clearing out the enemy HQ!"
"Right, Kyril!" Peregrine replies. "Man, I need to come up with a snappy nickname for you, but nothing come to mind. Kirry? Rilly? Awful. Fucking terrible..."
We drop Rin off on the mountains once again. This time, I hope, she can walk through unscathed!
Black Hole's not got much left they can do to hurt us. Let's just see what that medium tank decides to do.
...Hm. It's decided to use my patented strategy of "fuck off into the forest and pray nothing shoots you".
The enemy are really fucking determined to prevent Rin from moving in on the HQ.
And I'm getting real tired of it. Lloyd opens the proceedings with a one-shot on the anti-air, AKA the only thing that threatens my bombers.
Oh, but that's not all.
Enough! Begone!
It's not as hard-hitting as Black Storm, but it's still a nice bit of healing for my troops, and more damage for the dregs of Drake's forces.
Next task is to just close in on that forest to the left of the HQ and explode everything I find.
You next. Go fuck yourself.
This reveals the enemy tank's location, which is good - we can deal with that afterwards. Fenya/Diana head up to destroy the mech on the base here...
...and thus allows Darwin to plug it up. The enemy's got no more production! A crucial step in securing my victory, or at the very least doing it in a time-efficient manner.
Ha ha ha. Let's not pretend any of this map has been done time-efficiently.
Boris and Ivan continue their capturing.
The blue team will be taking care of the rest of the assault on the forest, since they have, you know, the bombers.
Lucy does pretty heavy damage to the tank, but can't quite get the kill.
"He's still standing... Dave, you got this tank?" Lucy says.
"Who do you take me for? I'm the Tankslayer." Dave says, but as he marches forward, he encounters an artillery ahead of him. "Uh, on second thoughts, I've been held up. Damn it!"
"An artillery? Oh, this is going to slow proceedings down. We've got to get Rin over to that HQ as quickly as we can!" Michael sighs.
Now we just need to use our troops very efficiently. First, Peregrine destroys this infantry, which opens up the artillery to attack.
Kyril can't quite kill it - and is getting really low on fuel.
Ingo's there to back him up, though, and nabs the KO on the artillery.
"Artillery down! Is there anyone in range to take care of the tank for Rin?" Ingo asks, but the response is negative.
Rin marches forward. "I'm moving ahead!"
"Wait, Rin!" Dave shouts. "I said don't do anything that I-"
"Don't do anything you wouldn't do, right, Dave?" Rin says, smiling. Her eyes shine with heroic purpose. "Well, there's one thing that you always do, that you're well known for doing! And I've been watching you ever since I was transferred to the ground division, watching how you use your strength to protect others..."
"Rin...?" Dave gasps.
Rin opens fire on the tank, running through the pouring rain as it prepares to launch a bazooka shot at her. "I'm going to do something you would DEFINITELY do..."
"Slay... a... TANK!" Rin yells, as the tank explodes around her. She continues running, her eyes fixed on the enemy HQ, rising up ahead of her. Totally stunned, Dave watches her go.
Michael chuckles to himself. "Looks like your protégé has picked up a thing or two from you, Dave."
"No kiddin'... but that was stressful to watch." Dave murmurs. "I'm proud of her though, that's for damn sure."
Black Hole's got nothing left, so now it's time for the part of the battle where Black Hole does absolute noth
I FUCKING FORGOT ABOUT THE MEDIUM TANK OH GOD
...
That could have been bad, holy shit. Thank goodness it didn't see Rin in the trees.
Right, someone kill that thing before it scares me again.
Zlata blasts it for most of its HP...
And the team of Fenya and Diana finish it off. The way to the HQ is open, so orange team's basically done now!
As such, let's just get over to the blue team and get Rin moving.
Rin makes a great start on the HQ! One more turn left, and just in case there's any more nasty surprises...
We assume the standard HQ Protect Your Infantry From Chip Damage Defensive Formation.
Black Hole do nothing.
Orange team do nothing.
This map's over, and it's the blue team who are going to pull it off.
"HQ captured!" Rin reports joyously. "I did it! We're safe!"
"We sure are..." Dave replies, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Incredible work, Rin. You're truly a credit to the 11th Division." Selena replies, smiling in her submarine. "Now I'd best go and refuel... again..."
"That was quite the performance." murmurs Lena, watching the rain fall around her as she listens to the end of the battle over the transceiver. "I get it now. It's not just my dude who's powerful... every single one of his soldiers is completely devoted. Perhaps Black Hole never stood a chance from the start."
Huzzah! The day is saved, and the people can slumber at their leisure once again! Thanks Rose, Rachel...that was a little hairy in the middle, I won't lie. You're welcome--things are only going to get tougher. We aren't far from the end now. We can make it if we keep at it!
I still don't like it... We thought that Black Hole was crushed, and yet they still have this huge army? ...Yeah. Too many questions, not enough answers. Well spoken, my lady.
It doesn't matter how many clones they toss our way. We'll blast 'em all! I'm itching to take down more of them! You sure about that, man? If we run into fucking Kanbei or something... I don't think we can solve the mystery just yet...
Where we goin' next, Rachel? Out of the frying pan, into the fire, Jake. We're going to the Twin Crown volcanoes. WHY?!
A nice S-rank for us! We were 5 points short on power, apparently, huh. I felt like I'd murdered quite a lot of things, and quite hard, but hey, whatever. Everyone's alive, which is the real victory anyway, and I was not expecting to land a deathless run of this map.
You know, for such good friends, you're standing facing away from each other in this shot...
Anyway, another mission, and that's a familiar face I see there...
Eh? What's that, girl?
Well, it takes a massive amount of energy to produce a viable clone...
The black obelisk was the only power source they could've used to make the clones. But they're producing tons of them, and we destroyed the black obelisk weeks ago. How could Black Hole get access to that much power?
Rachel, the kid and Jess were just saying the same thing! If clones eat up that much energy, that makes 'em hungrier than me! Harrr! Lash? Do you know anything about it?
Huh? Oh, yeah...totally. Making one or two clones is WAY easy! It takes about as much energy as all the cities of Orange Star use in a month. Not all that much, really! Tee hee hee!
And the secret project, Lash? That was connected to the clones. Did Von Bolt ever tell you what it was? Nope, only the Bolt Guard knew about that! You never know, though--I'm sure we're going to find out what that secret project is sooner or later! I suppose we'll just have to keep beating these clones until Von Bolt plays his hand. I hear there's a clone at the Twin Crown volcanoes. Ooooh, it's gonna be fun! I wonder which clone will show up next? Maybe it'll be a copy of you, right down to the plain face! Tee hee hee! Whoa, watch it, Lash!! Hey, that was mean! I don't think we could ever be friends.
Sensei's not wrong about it being a double helping - this looks like a busy map, on both fronts.
Be careful, Sensei. Something's not right here...
That thing erupted!
These volcanoes have been blessed with Black Hole's most advanced technology. Like a hungry snake emerging from its den, these falling rocks will strike mercilessly. In just 18 days, this land will be reduced to naught but ashes... Gwar! Think you're tough, shorty? I'll smash your head like a melon! Leave it to a simpleton to use his hands instead of his brain. Arise, my clone! Help me sacrifice these fools to the purifying flames!
By your command. D-Dad?! NO! There's our answer--we must face Commander Kanbei. Oh, I got this one right! Rachel, Max, you owe me 20. Alright, but I'm going to get the next clone right.
I think we'll run into a clone of me next! Maybe... I'm going to say Grit next. You have amassed quite a stable of COs. And now, their skills are turned against you! The hunter has become the hunted! Send in the clone! By your command. Gragh! He looks just like our emperor! I can't see as well as I used to. So it looks just like him, eh? It'll be like fighting Kanbei himself. Those dogs... I'll bust their chops! Hah! That's nothin'. I've been whippin' Kanbei since he was a pup, and I can do it again! If they rigged the volcano to blow, there's got to be a way to stop it.I absolutely love Sensei, it must be said. In terms of characters, Yellow Comet might be becoming my favourites... Blue Moon's good too, though. We just haven't got any good Grit/Olaf content in this game.
We can handle that. I think I know how to stop it... Hm...looks like this mission involves two fronts and both screens. The CPU usually commands the secondary front, but I bet you want more control. GOD YES. If you want to take over, open the menu and hit Intel, then turn Auto CO off. You can turn Auto CO on or off anytime, so use it wisely.And thus, the next map is upon us, and it's looking hectic. We have 18 days to stop the volcanoes from erupting and clear out the enemy forces, on two fronts. You know the drill - two COs, which ones are we going to use for this map?
Inb4 "the ones you've used the least"
See you next time!
***
Update 64 (Intermission) - Being Something Else