Part 126: A Rescue
from the Journal of Marcus Gordon, Former Defense Minister, UCS
November 21st, 2150
I've discovered there's a nearby group of the mysterious UCS faction. I do not like that I had to destroy them yesterday; we should be allies, not enemies! I'll set up camp there and see if we can make contact.
I am a bit worried though. Radar indicates there's a weak ED position set up almost on top of our mystery faction. If they're under attack, maybe we can rescue them as a show of good faith?
Briefing Video: video link
Our starting position is quite boring, nothing more than a Mammoth. Let's do what Marcus says and get a base going.
The map is quite tiny, so a little base like this should be enough. Fun fact: for some reason you can't build Energy Transmitters on this map. No idea why, but you'll want to put your structures very close together.
Well that confirms it. These not-friends are also not friends of the Dynasty. Let's begin our rescue!
Research: Bat Bomber
We don't even need to worry too much about defenses as we're on an island. If we can find and destroy any bridges (save one) we won't need to invest in towers everywhere.
...Unless the ED just attacks with helicopters the whole time.
Fortunately I've got enough rockets back on the production centers to nullify the threat.
More Hans are coming, but I'm not too worried given the futility of their last attack. Plus, it's only one more helicopter.
On the other hand, this is a little more disturbing. Our defenses aren't operational yet and they almost slipped right past us.
They...don't seem interested in shooting at anything useful. They ran to the back of the base and proceeded to sit there and shoot at the Refinery, which is fine by me, because that gave me enough time to move in and wipe them out.
We've discovered there's only a single bridge between our island and the mainland (the one you see in the radar to the top is just rubble) so we move to secure it. Once we're across our base will be safe from everything except aerial attacks.
Yikes! Look at that line of Pillboxes. Good thing I brought these Grenade Panthers. Once again, my heavy investment in grenades is paying off.
Research: Upgraded Bat Bomber
Well, okay maybe this won't be as easy as me just sitting back and bombarding them. The Dynasty have pushed their tanks right into my face.
Unfortunately for them they don't have shields.
And unfortunately for us, this is all taking place in range of their Pillboxes
We've won the engagement, but our attack force has been crippled. We'll need to use the grenadiers judiciously.
And by that I mean "don't let a bunch of ion units disable them"
After some repairing and muttering to myself I've got the grenadiers in position. We have a clear shot at all the power plants from the western edge. Time to reduce them to rubble.
The Hans and Thors keep harassing the base but the towers and production buildings are enough to drive them away.
Woohoo! Power to the western side of the defenses should be down.
The ED counter with an absolutely pitiful attack. One Siberia L? Really?
Research: Upgraded Shadow Generator (the first one you can put on units)
We're methodically working our way through the base now. There are a handful of ED counter-attacks but they have the ferocity of a small kitten and are completely inconsequential.
With the power down, let's take out the rest of the buildings.
Unfortunately for us, this was only the first line of defenses. There's a second, albeit weaker, line just behind the first. Ugh. Time for more bombardment...
Hours later
Okay we've gotten to the point where most of the defenses are down, but we've run out of resources. Normally I'd just say screw it and stage an assault but considering I only have around 6,000 credits left, I can't afford to rebuild the losses. So we shall continue bombarding everything.
FINALLY! We've weakened the ED base enough that our other units can move into it without getting shredded by lasers. Time to knock the rest of the base aside and go meet our compatriots.
A warning to anyone playing along at home:
Upon destroying the last ED building a long (5+ minute) cutscene will play that auto-ends the mission. If you like your units, send them back to base before you destroy the last building.
We've destroyed the ED base! Now let's see how grateful our new friends are.
Some random Panthers that I didn't build show up. Uh, okay then.
Hi there, we're here to be your new friends!
No, what are you doing new friends! You are being not-friends! Bullets are not friendly!
Or explosions for that matter
Uh, they just detonated all their buildings and ran into the tunnels. I have no idea what the hell is going on. But we need to figure out just why this faction is avoiding us. Follow them!
Our "friends" literally did nothing all mission except destroy their own buildings. Great job guys.
Next time: A pursuit through the tunnels.