Part 47: Day 5: The Maxia Choice

Day 5: The Maxia Choice


https://youtu.be/HCsKZXIPVI4


















So we're the cleanup crew basically?










Ah yes, our new toy for the day: Shields.







Because of the fact that they basically just serve as a delaying tactic, they aren't my favorite thing and I only use them when necessary.







Farston sounds like a real piece of work, but my initial impression was that, with this being the concluding operation of the first Act, we would probably find something a lot more substantive in the Holocube. We'll see, the pleasantries are over and it's time to get to work.




Shields in various places, including above the Liberation Ship. We've got a bit of ore coming in, green and red crystals to harvest on the right, a good amount of Reactors already built -- this really looks like a strong initial setup despite the flaws in the chosen location. Shouldn't be difficult. There is Creeper above and below. Along with the shields, that seems to be the gimmick of this level.




Here's what the bottom looks like. There's no decaying terrain so this emitter is going to be stuck here until the end of time if we don't breach that cavern.




A, uh, slightly different story here. You can just see an emitter in the upper-right. The mission timer is 1 minute, 21 seconds here so you don't have a ton of time. I moved the makers above the shielding as recommended, but having this one over on the right wasn't brilliant. I just barely get it out in time, literally probably two seconds longer stuck in this area and the Creeper would have destroyed it.




It's pretty clear that the relatively small amount of Anti-Creeper being produced isn't going to cut it. The shields start to go as the creeper takes control of the right side there. I get a few blasters going and start harvesting the HoloCube in response. If a hole appears in the Shields, bad things will happen to the reactors below. Very bad things.




Time for our heroes to say a bunch of crap about the HoloCube as soon as we acquire it.










That's definitely not Farston ...








Yes, we can't let the directives of the duly constituted authorities get in the way of going off on some wild-goose chase to investigate your daugher's untimely demise, can we??




It's a conspiracy! CentCom are all a bunch of Loki agents secretly protecting the Creeper!! In all seriousness, the Admiral does seem to at least think he has a good reason for all of these shenanigans he's pulling.







The penny drops. Although it would have been nice to know we were hunting down information to investigate Aliana's death. Dax would have liked to know that for sure.




No, actually we don't all know it. And the reason we know we don't know it, is that you are going to relay it here for us all, which you wouldn't have to do if ... nevermind.







So Aliana's death basically comes down to a mechanical accident/malfunction, followed by Creeper onslaught.










Apparently the late Dr. Abraxis was an omnipotent goddess in human form, except for when it came to her Rift Engine and the resulting Creeper attack.







Not that he's without reasons, but Abraxis clearly doesn't think a whole heap of CentCom or the NHA.







And now we can see why Joven is chosen for this mission above all other Commanders, many of which would be more experienced. He seems to be the one guy who wouldn't be able to turn down a chance to find out more about Aliana's demise.




So here we are, pawns in the Admiral's game, assuming that we agree to his 'request'.




Meanwhile though, Maxia has more for us to do. The Blasters are barely able to push back the creeper with the help of our anti-creeper. You can see the right-most shield is nearly gone ... but not completely. A nice save here that ensures this 'planetary scrub' will go off without any serious problems.




Beacons are built, a couple more blasters added, and soon we're ready to place the first Nullifier and blow the upper emitter. I've also moved the Makers down below the shield, as I'll be wanting to move downwards after this and the anti-creeper can help with that.




Similar to our last excursion on UC-1004, we breach and the anti-creeper helps with going downwards ... but will be of less use when the trail turns to the right. The ground all around this 'tunnel' can't be excavated, so there's no other way to get there.

I upgrade packet speed a bit but other than that we've seen this movie before. The half-dozen blasters in a leapfrog maneuver steadily make their way over and soon the second emitter is nullified. I never did bother with the crystals or remnants scattered about -- they were simply surplus to requirements.




Maxia was indeed about the 'choice', even though we don't really have one, and Abraxis's holocube message. Shields are a nice little thing to throw in there but other than that there wasn't anything new about the gameplay in terms of beating the level; I didn't built a single tech dome, reactor, ore rig, etc. beyond what we had to begin things.