Part 12: Amazon

I'm back! I'm glad to see the voting is really popular. Now, let's go to the Amazon! High Mentor Tiolan said the ED forces need to cross some bridges to get to us so I'm gonna take a wild stab here and say Fang and co. will be blowing up bridges again.



Can't win? Fang doesn't know the meaning of can't win!

He does know the meaning of "blow up the bridges" though so I'll focus on doing that. 50,000 CR is more than double what we were collecting at the start of the campaign, construction must be speeding up.



The LC base already has adequate power and two shiny Ore Transport Refineries. But we're lacking something...something weather related.

I put in orders for 3 Weather Control Centers. I can't wait to use them.



On the research front, we've got the last upgrade for our rockets. Once we have this our missiles should hit the enemy 100% of the time. This upgrade makes the advantages of chainguns over rocket launchers pretty small, so from now on expect to see a lot more rocket/electro-cannon units. I won't say the chaingun is obsolete, because it's still useful in quick strikes against injured units, but there's little reason to use it now for my main army/air force.



The mission gives you this helpful countdown until the ED attack. We've got 36 hours to take out the bridges that lead to the base. There are three primary bridges that connect to the northwestern landmass we're on, however these bridges are natural choke points for ED defenses. We fight smart, so we'll be looking for secondary bridges we can blow to achieve the same objective.



This is bridge one, right outside your base area. It makes sense to hit it first.



Bridge two is to the southwest, is already guarded by a mass of Small Towers, and Large Towers and Pillboxes are under construction. They took out my Lunar scout before she even knew what hit her . This will be the last one we tackle.




And this is a secondary bridge in the northeast. You can see the ED defensive line guarding the bridge to the north that connects to the landmass our base is on. Blowing this bridge will allow us to avoid these Dynasty defenses. And if we really want to, we can hit the power plant from behind and take out the unpowered towers with no risk to our units.



Our Weather Control Centers are on the ground. They take a few minutes to charge up to 100% but lesser weather effects will be available at lower charges. In this mission our choices will be Wind, Rain and Lighting Storm. Obviously I'm waiting till these are at 100% to unleash the lightning



Fang and the Girls arrive, blowing the first bridge in seconds. The electro-cannon is particularly effective against the bridge. I don't know why a bunch of concrete and steel would collapse faster when you put a charge in it than when you shoot a rocket at it though. I'll chalk it up to LC science.



Our fancy rockets are done so back to the Research Center we go. The Shield Recharger is pretty useless. Our shields can stand a pretty withering ED laser attack with normal recharge right now. The UCS plasma cannons might warrant this upgrade but they're our friends. Friends don't shoot friends.

The stronger shields area good bet though. Tougher shields will let us keep pace with upgrades to the ED's laser weapon.



My battle force has sneaked in behind the defensive line in the southwest to hit a secondary bridge. Unfortunately, this doesn't completely cut off the southwestern approach but it does destroy the most direct route from the ED base to the southwestern bridge. Stalling the enemy for no cost to yourself but time is a move I'll always make.



On the way to the secondary approach in the northeast Fang runs into a bunch of ED tanks parked and ready to ambush the LC. He makes quick scrap of them but...



The girls want in on the action too. These single-cannon Pamirs are hopelessly outclassed by our veteran units and energy weapons. There's no reason to fear these base units anymore unless we see a big swarm of them.



Fang disables the ED power plant to ensure the towers won't be firing on the army as they blow the bridge. He gets a bit chewed up but is no worse for the wear.



With the defenses neutered the bridge goes down easy. I let everyone take some target practice against the now useless towers.



Once again, it's easy to hit these towers once Fang has disabled the power plant. Give the ED some credit, had we tried to attack from the front the firepower of those pillboxes and towers would've shredded our units. They even put chainguns on some of the towers to protect them from an aerial assault. Smart thinking ED.



With less than a day to go until the attack the ED has started sending scouts over to test our defenses. Fortunately I know they can only approach from the southeast and I've set up a Guardian to punish any ED unit who strays to close to the base. This Pamir didn't stand a chance.




I use the same tactic I did up in the northeast to take out the last defensive outpost and bridge. Once again, we suffer 0 casualties. The LC has become a truly terrifying fighting force under General Fang's leadership.

Another scouting tank was trying to cross just as the bridge fell into the river. He gets very sad and sits at the end of the bridge while being electrocuted.



At 82% charge the WCCs can send in rain and windstorms. We need that last 12% so we can wreck havoc on the Dynasty base.



Of course we'll need to find the Dynasty base so I send Fang out scouting. Here you can see some defenses on a secondary bridge. The ED figured out my trick a little too late I think.




OH GOD ITS THE ATTACK FORCE RUN AWAY FANG

Note the change in the health bar and the clock in the upper right hand corner. Fang was barely there before his health started melting away. I know I just said Pamir tanks are fairly useless now but there's at least 20 of them and they have the new double barreled 105mm gun.



There's the base! And a million helicopters.

Why can't I win?

Fang's done his job so I send him back to base. The WCCs are ready. Time to blot out the sun and rain terror down on our enemies, just like Thor would've done were he alive today to have the chance.



That was one lightning bolt and now the research center is gone. This shit is amazing.



Another lightning bolt hits the Supply Center. I also managed to get a shot of a lightning bolt harmlessly hitting the ground. They can't all be winners.



This is huge. We just blew up the power to the base's mining operation. Unless they can get a Gruz back there they won't be able to collect any more resources. More for us!

And right as that power plant blows up we get a news bulletin from the Moon. Looks like the chassis of our evacuation ship is done. Those LC girls sure do work fast!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa83t3N0eLE



Here it comes! The ED are crossing into the mission area. This is so tense. What will happen?





Oh. Kind of hard to stage an attack when you can't cross the rivers I suppose. Good job on the LC army knocking out all the routes to their base.




Fang I get bored waiting around for the mines to finish their mining so I decide to have some fun. I send Fang out to grab some Cossacks and lure them back to the base.



They don't have a prayer.

Immediately after completing this I get an idea. If I can lure all the choppers over the death machine that is my base defenses the ED base will be completely vulnerable. After a few minutes the air force is gone and the base sits wide open for our counter-attack.



The CPU loves to build repairer units, which can make blowing up buildings and units rather tricky. Fang starts work on these Taiga repairers while the rest of the units come down.



Looks like the Dynasty had a few Cossacks left in the base, but they're nothing against my Meteors (including a new Meteor m3 R!).



My Moon m3s pour into the base and it's all but a formality at this point.



Our new shields hold up very well against the ED's laser weapons.



Just as I suspected, the ED couldn't get a Gruz in the back of the base to rebuild the power plant. They haven't been mining since the lightning storm. I'm going to be getting a nice credit bonus this mission.




My units work on base cleanup while I drop in a Mine. I've seen a very spiffy new weapon on our research tree and I hope I have enough credits for it.



One of the Meteors spot a single Siberia R on the other side of the hills protecting the ED base. Alia said we couldn't win here? I think we already have. Just need to destroy a few stragglers and...



Oh fuck. Looks like there was more than just one of them. Remember that attack force I showed a bit earlier? Well they're all there. Do I stand and fight or retreat?

Come on is this even a question, of course I fight!



On second thought maybe I should've retreated. Fang here has 4 HP, a single stray bullet from a chaingun will kill him. I've never seen anyone survive after taking such damage.



Thus, Fang will spend the rest of the mission hiding here. I've flirted once with death today thank you very much. You can also see my research centers off to the left. Which means it's...



new weapons research time! The Sonic Cannon is an energy weapon just like the electro-cannon. Unlike every other weapon in the game it does not require you to target a unit nor does it get stronger with upgrades. The Sonic Cannon sends a shockwave out in a circle from its firing position, hitting any unit in its path. Upgrades to the Sonic Cannon will let it fire faster. This can be very deadly if you put a bunch of units in the center of an enemy formation and order them to attack the ground.



The mission is complete! We'll need to stay on the field to get the resources out of the ED base though.



I send the Meteors to harass the few remaining Pamir tanks. Fuck those guys, they almost killed Fang. Time for them to get shot at without being able to fire back.



The Sonic Cannon is done! And the fine women at the Ixchel Research Center have another educational video for us on their terrifying new weapon. I also begin work on the upgrade to the Sonic Cannon but since the damage stays the same there's no change on our unit screen. Trust me when I say you'll only ever see the upgraded version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNBwvJCaZ6I



The Moons and Fang come over to finish off the last of the "unbeatable" ED attack force. Looks like we proved Alia wrong.



I send everyone home and with that the Amazon is done!




110 units destroyed, 6 units lost We kicked ass yet again!



ANOTHER fucking escort mission!? Jesus christ UCS. At least Sombra made a little joke.