Part 12: Vela

Chapter 12: Vela


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g0...eature=youtu.be





So now we get reactors. Other than that though, it seems the Commander is cracking up. Feeling fatalistic at the very least, though it's hard to blame him/us/them/whatever. OPS doesn't sound much more positive, but what can we do but keep going? Living another few days is better for Odin City than not, and those are basically the choices here.




The schematic is in the lower right. We're on elevated ground in the south, same for four emitters in the north. Naturally the Totems are right by the enemy. They can't ever be close to us -- that would be too easy. The large basin in the middle is the key aspect of the terrain. It would seem to require quite a lot of force to occupy it ... and as alluded to in the briefing, we don't have much.

Doom Timer: 25:15


What we do have is time, at least compared to Tucana. Compared to most worlds so far in fact. That's a big freaking basin to fill. This is more of a long-term, what do we do about the lack of good real-estate to build on issue. Not so much a 'get moving NOW or die' dilemma.




We've now snagged the Reactor schematic, and pretty much done the initial expansion. Any further growth will require some decisions. That mortar behind the wall in the east is meant to try and protect that area. As ideas go, it's a pretty bad one -- it's never going to do enough damage to keep all the creeper from flowing. With a wide basin like this, enough creeper won't collect in one place.




Go ahead. Read that first sentence without exasperated laughter. I dare you. Regardless of the technobabble however, this is my least favorite item in Creeper World. It turns the whole land-for-power dynamic on it's head. Land area is now nearly irrelevant. At 40 per, they do cost twice as much as a collector. But that's a very temporary setback. Only a fraction of the territory is now required. But there are a couple of times when they are virtually indispensable, and this is one of them.




Vela is the last world I played on my partial test-playthrough. I didn't finish -- I got stalemated and got annoyed with it and figured I'd seen enough. I did hit upon this idea of not bothering with the basin at all though. The problem is that it bottlenecks rather severely. I tried then to slowly expand with collectors and blasters. Couldn't make it work, partly because I was basically like 'I don't need no stinking reactors'. And this is probably still possible without them, but it's a lot harder.




A blaster is in place to defend our foothold on the north side, the mortar in the southeast continues to fire away nearly-pointlessly, a storage unit is up ... and a couple of reactors are being built to increase the supply. Nearly limitless energy FTW!




Oops there goes another rubber tree pla ... I mean, there goes the barricade in the southeast. Lost two collectors, but that was just going to happen anyway unless I wanted a blaster there forever. The mortar is moved to the new 'front', reactors/speed/storage are going up, and so is the deficit -- but like last time I don't care. I just want a couple strategically placed weapons to hold off the enemy while most of the energy goes to building, so overbuilding is the idea here.




More blasters, a few collectors on the far side, and I'm ready to start expanding our foothold. Notice that I've also inadertently created an 'alley' in the lower basin, right where the relays connect. Could just start building collectors down there and expand that way, but it just feels wrong. This map is telling us to to bridge that gap, don't conquer everything, just use reactors for energy.

Oh, and I also didn't even notice it at the time. But I would have done it this way anyhow. Soon it became obvious that I needed more energy, or the best I was going to be able to do was beat my head against the wall here and make obscenely slow progress. The mortar was disarmed, and MOAR REACTORS!




See the cloud of creeper vapor in the north? It's basically constant at this point. Expanded a bit more with the upgrade from 4 to 6 reactors. With the Mortar still disarmed, energy is nearly balanced.




Here's the key point that I never reached on my first attempt; moving off the peninsula. This is sheer force, advancing enough constantly-firing blasters to punch a hole. Once you get out here, expanding is much easier; more space to work with. And I cannot overemphasize the importance of Speed buildings. There's no forward spot to move Odin City to, so without at LEAST 2-3 of them, and I probably should have built a fourth, you can't supply the blasters with enough ammunition to get the job done.

10:49 to get here.




Exactly one minute later. I was able to move the mortar close enough to devastate the pools by the emitters, and the Creeper parted like ... you know. A highway was quickly crated to push up to capping range. And the rest would be handled with ease.




I'm sure General Revil does not approve, but we win having controlled probably not more than half of the terrain here.




I'm satisfied with the energy management and most things here, aside from the pointless, doomed mortar excursion early on.




What is a Pavo, anyway? From here on out, everything is new to me. Keep that in mind as maximum derp descends upon this LP.