The Let's Play Archive

Creeper World Series

by Strategic Sage

Part 20: Volan

Chapter 18: Volan


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWO...eature=youtu.be









Limited high ground with five emitters. We're safe initially, but getting enough territory to effectively combat the enemy could be an issue.


Doom Timer: 4:13


It takes a bit for the Creeper to fill the whole map, but that emitter just below us won't take long to overflow its relatively small pool.




I grabbed the nearest upgrade to increase energy, and this blaster might have been a bit early. Probably was, but I thought we were going to need some quick defense the way the creeper was expanding. Other than that, pretty much sticking to the elevated path near the city.




It soon became apparent that we were going to be in some trouble in the northwest here. I've grabbed some more territory there but we don't seem to have enough firepower to hold the line, and there's really nowhere else we can build.




I got another blaster up there and starting relays to the small islands, the idea being to rescue that pod. However, none of that matters if Odin City gets destroyed -- it's under attack here with the emitter south of us overflowing a bit despite the blaster we have in place.




Interesting. Also, relocating the defensive blaster closer to the emitter seemed to do the trick -- it'll soak up more energy for ammunition from there, but the attacking creeper has receded. Odin City is safe for now.




Gradually the blasters in the north were giving ground, the ammunition supply not able to keep up. So what did I do here? Relocate the blaster in the east up there? Build reactors? Nope. Build more blasters that will make the ammo supply situation worse. The idea of taking out the southern emitter is good, but this isn't the way to go about it in the current situation.




I eventually tried to shift some blasters up there to salvage the situation, but it was too late. That whole section of the network was doomed to collapse.




Eventually I figured that out, retreated to high ground, and got a reactor going. Several collectors and a couple blasters were lost in the process, along with a full third of our energy supply. Note: do not try this at home. This is not the way to win Volan. It's more of 'how to salvage things' expedition now.

I must admit I didn't do a great job of that either. I should have built more than one reactor at a time, or deactivated a couple of Blasters, or maybe both. The quickest way of recovery here would be to use just enough ammunition energy to keep the Creeper at bay, and no more than that.




While the third reactor was getting constructed, I noticed a new problem(bottom middle); the creeper was flowing over another edge to threaten our main network. That could not be tolerated, so a blaster was relocated to keep things safe.




After we had a few reactors up, I decided to get a Mortar going on the small central island, with the goal of doing more significant damage to the creeper.




Up in the northeast near deep concentrations, the mortar made a number of bombing runs to start the process of literally turning the tide a bit.




Then we got enough blaster fire to cap off the southwest emitter, filling that pool with collectors. Finally we were getting somewhere.




Now we had a solid enough economic base for a more traditional, gradual expansion back into the northwest. With regular bombing runs aiding the cause and more blasters gradually added into service, I was on the comeback trail.

At about the same time, we capped off the central emitter and got the mortar a secure location. The fight would drag on for quite a while longer, but by this point the result was no longer in question.




Odin City was eventually relocated forward to speed things up, and nearly the entire map covered in our network. I don't think I've ever bothered to acquire more than the 15.2 collection income I had at the end of this one.




The red spikes show the most regular bombing runs I've ever done in a single mission. It worked though.




The end is nigh.