Part 93: Defi

Defi

Video


I think this was the mission on which I accidentally set the in-game volume way too high. My apologies for that being overlooked, it's pretty ridiculous once things get going.





This is a pretty sizable map. With way too much Digitalis for my liking.














Aren't there always 'unforseen consequences' when opening Pandora's Box?













*sigh*




















Anything more on why these things are always around when we need them, Lia? I mean, other than 'because plot'? No??




Don't remember which ones were added here.




This rectangular area in the southwest is an obvious starting point with a moat. The sniper tech is nearby. It seems humanity developed these at some point specifically to counter certain creeper adaptations. And so the pattern continues. I put up a few cannons to keep from being overrun right away. Then a few Snipers ... and I'm already out of energy but I didn't really think I had much of a choice. We need to have sufficient defenses.




Here's a sniper at work; the blue turrety platform at the bottom. Those grey things are the Runners, and there's now one less. I think the nest in this level said it releases one every 2.3 seconds. So it doesn't take long for them to be a whole bunch of the annoying little twirps scampering all over the digitalis.

I spend quite some time building reactors to boost energy. Very slowly at first, complicated by the fact I was compelled before long to add a few more defensive pulse cannons. About eight minutes was spent doing nothing else before I felt confident enough in our supply.




My next goal is this Totem below us. I want to get a Forge going ASAP. The Terp is there to clear space. It's a Terp despite the fact that I continue to repeatedly refer to it as a 'Terra' because memory fail.




There are multiple emitters on Defi, but I go for this one which is fairly isolated and as close as any. It seems sensible to aid the push with Strafers, and I was also feeling guilty for having basically ignored them for several missions since they were acquired. Also seen here is the usual attack group of cannons with a mortar.




This is one of the things that I don't like about some CW3 levels. The terrain is constantly peppered with elevation changes, making it very hard to find places to put your weapons without leveling things off. I don't really enjoy this, and I don't think there's any efficient way to take out enough creeper to nullify the emitters via air power or whatever. So mostly I just find this pointlessly tedious. Bringing the terp along is the best way I know of to deal with it. And here we need a Sniper to deal with Runners as well, so there's lots of different required unit types involved.

At this point I've got three energy efficiency and a couple of storage upgrades, and am now working on fire rate/fire range. This is a pretty common pattern I seem to have evolved. The energy efficiency upgrades are a significant boost, but once I think I have 'enough' I want more firepower out of each weapon, which I much prefer over just building more of them.




This seems to be a fine place for a SuperCannon. The Digitalis in this area wilts before it's onslaught. Also, see the blue 'gun' on one of the others? That's what they look like with 'Prioritize Digitalis' selected. I can confirm that this is quite effective ... I used it regularly in this mission. I'm already over 20 minutes in by this point and while we're definitely making progress, it's obvious this is going to take a while to clear.




I next head east, where I discover that Terps last as long as Relays in combat with the Creeper. Which is to say, they are instantly destroyed. There's ore over here which would be nice, and another emitter. Offscreen to the south is a solid mass of digitalis that I can cut off.




There it is, totally cut off. This is one of the most cathartic things I've been able to do in CW3 so far. Killing digitalis without having to destroy it slowly and directly is ever so satisfying.




More gradual clearing continues, and I snag another Totem and a couple more ore resources as we work up the east side. Then the sprayers go into action, ensuring the digitalis will not return. It's time for the assault on the denser concentrations around that Nest.




Here's what happens when you don't get snipers in place as you advance. The relay by the cursor here is stunned, which is what that spotty effect is here. Which is why it's not connected to any of the nearby units. Not my finest moment.




There are three more emitters to go. This one is the first to fall; there's another one to the north and one to the west, feeding the digitalis network which guards the nest. Their days are most definitely numbered. I put a Sniper on it, which allows it to basically hit almost any Runner on the map that it has LOS to.




After the next emitter, the digitalis really starts to shrivel rapidly, and soon we're able to take out the Nest ... and grab the shield key nearby. There's only one more stop in this system.