Earth 2150 (trilogy) Part #106

Part 106: Bulgaria

From the Diary of General Fedorov - Commander of the Mobile Commandos posted:

September 16th 2150

We managed to get the electronics out of Iran, and just in time too. Hours after we evacuated the base reports came in that the entire facility was destroyed by LC bombers. We now have everything we need to finalize construction of the evacuation fleet. While we await the completion of the fleet, the Khan has ordered me to take the fight to the UCS. HIs methods are...a bit strange though. I'm to attack a UCS production facility in Bulgaria. But why Bulgaria? The facility is now useless to the UCS with their evacuation ship already completed. Wouldn't it make more sense to strike at New York or even their launch facility in Florida? But I am a good soldier and if the Khan orders it, I shall do it.

Briefing Video: video link

rest of the briefing posted:

General Fedorov: As you wish. Immediately...

Our scouts have run fly-bys of the UCS base. Results are...not encouraging. It's bottled up incredibly tightly and it looks like the only point of attack is to go through one of the two defensive lines facing east. An aerial assault is out of the question due to the mountains and strong anti-air defenses. Nor can we expect to make progress by tunneling under the base; the hard rock of the mountains is impenetrable.

Our base is here, on the other side of the river. Let's see if we can manage to take the other shore before the UCS can.

Research: Heavy Tower

Once again, our Czar has provided us with some new technology. Finally we have aerial units

I order our engineers to construct a number of chassis.

We also have ion cannons

We're able to take the other shoreline with ease. There was no UCS resistance whatsoever. As we did in Korea, let's set up a forward base here.

While the UCS was unwilling or unable to stop our expansion across the river they've sent a force of Gargoyles to attack our base. Thankfully once I secured the opposite shore I converted all defenses to anti-air. The Gargoyles didn't stand a chance.

Our new air force has discovered a problem. This bridge. With our landing zone focused on anti-air defenses, our enemy could use this bridge to slip behind us and wreck havoc.

Of course the easy solution to that is to destroy the bridge. Now there is only one route across the river.

And we have total control over that route. Our units are sniping enemy Gargoyles out of the air at the rate of about 2 or 3 a minute.

Our tanks and towers are able to turn back any assault. Now we simply need to wait and fortify ourselves for a push to the south.

Hours later...

The UCS defenses are as stout as our initial scouting indicated. However if you notice to the east of the towers there is a choke point that is relatively undefended. If we can make a move to that location we can trap the UCS inside their base and wear them down via attrition.

The UCS grow more bold in their attacks. An entire squadron of Bat bombers attacks our landing zone

(Fun fact: these auto-spawn in your base. Hope you're ready!)

Our army has cleared the path to the south. Now we just need the Gruz to establish our second forward base.

But before that happens we must deal with these UCS units who are attempting to push our forces into the jaws of their towers. It was quite clever of them to wait until we had passed by, but the attack fails.

Our defenses will focus on this narrow strip of land. The mountains are impassible and the UCS has no fleet in the area. With the entrance to the UCS base in sight we will have only a short distance to travel if the UCS attempt a counter-attack.

And as an added bonus, some of our towers can hit the UCS ones!

More UCS units ~~auto-spawn~~ attack our landing zone. By now the resources are mined out so it's of no consequence if we lose this base.

Sensing the noose about to tighten, the UCS attempt to break through our defenses. Unfortunately for them they forgot to bring anything that can shoot air units and so our air force intercepts. They don't stand a chance.

The defenses are set. Now it's time to destroy the UCS base. And the safest way to do so is with our Khrushchev artillery units.

We can hit every structure in the base without risking our own units. And that's very reassuring, look at how deep the defenses go. We'd be cut to pieces without our artillery.

To ensure the UCS do not attack our flank, I have a Gruz build a wall, funneling all UCS units away from our flanks and into the center of our army.

Our artillery has hit its first power plant. Many more will soon be destroyed.

Hey look! More cheating by the AI. This time we can see that they spawn sitting on the ground within our base. Yeah that's fair.

Our wall-building is interrupted by a UCS attack. Once again they forget to bring any anti-air units.

That's two power plants down. This narrow valley is almost cleared. Once the UCS defenses have been swept away we'll be able to send in the bulk of the army to destroy the base.

The wall protecting our flank is complete.

Our next threat is these UCS repairer robots. They'll be able to repair any damage our artillery does in the base proper. Thankfully they're terribly armored and terribly stupid so they'll stand right there as our artillery pounds them into dust.

I'm forced to pull back slightly as the UCS air force attempts to intercept and destroy our artillery. Four Gargoyles aren't much but when we can't shoot back it poses a problem. With the artillery now sitting under a cloud of Groznys and Thors the enemy will be more than happy to impale themselves on our rockets.

With the Gargoyles disposed of we get back to shelling the base. The last power plant in the valley is destroyed, meaning we can now push forward with the bulk of our army without risking evisceration by the plasma cannons.

Whoa. There are a ton of factories here. Maybe attacking wasn't such a bad idea after all.

lasers don't work on structures you fools! And why are some of my units taking damage? We've cut the power to everything that can hurt us.

Unless....