Part 67: Bonus 4: Shields Up!

Bonus 4: Shields Up!

https://youtu.be/wTswRKPngXY





Yeah, we heard that already.




Two emitters near the surface and enough decayable terrain for them to join up and pop up to say hello through that left-side opening.

** Doom Timer: 52 seconds

Not bad. Not bad at all. Get off to a good start, or don't survive.




This is the earliest threat. Those Gateways start throwing out drones immediately. Weak drones, but they are coming quickly. Time is of the essence and on the first attempt I don't get moving fast enough.




It did say 'Shields Up', and then repeated it, so I try that out. It takes about exactly one minute for me to realize that the drones are going to take them out faster than I can build them.

** Take 2: 1:48 video, 1:03 mission timer




This is the same time, almost to the second, that I restarted the first time. Defenses are holding better. I've got three blasters and a decent row of reactors, though the Liberation Ship has still taken some damage.




I add some shields, but the creeper's starting to move this way and I try to move the blasters left, past the shields. Bad idea. I lose two of them and soon my position is overwhelmed.

** Take 3: 3:20 video, 0:56 mission timer


I start pretty much the same way but with a different approach on how to proceed.




I have enough energy for a fourth blaster, and with that firepower increase and more careful maneuvering, I ignore the 'Shields Up' idea and am able to push left. However there is an even better concept that I thought about when reviewing the action. Hence the badly-squiggled light-green line. Excavating there, I could have safely doubled my energy input and still avoided any risk of the creeper pool below bubbling up. But I didn't realize that.




Slowly but steadily I push to the left, each small advance gaining me another spot for a surface reactor to be secure. They are safe with no Phantoms on this map.




A few minutes later, after straining my resources with the addition of a Launcher, the subterranean row occurs to me. I did see it, just took me a bit. Not that long though, we're under eight minutes into the mission here. And now I've got enough energy to gain some momentum.




I get greedy and a drone splits off and makes me pay for it, taking out a launcher.




Energy still at a premium, I put a reactor every available space as we push the encroaching enemy back underground.




The attack really bogs down here for a while, as multiple nullifying attempts are rebuffed. A sizable pulse comes out of that emitter, enough to make it a sizable challenge.




That's the turning point as soon after one gateway falls. Then another. Then I build TechDomes that I don't need as much anymore as I could have used them earlier, and more reactors go up to fuel the war machine.




More emitters below, but with all these artifacts it's really just a matter of how I want to do it.




Excavate a sizable front, add some anti-creeper -- I could have used a few more blasters and launchers, but only took light damage here before the pressure was equalized.




Seen here is the fact that I used pretty much all the energy until pretty late in the conflict. This had very much a CW1-like pattern in that once I had enough energy, it was pretty much over.