Part 17: Rio De Janeiro

The UCS managed to pin Neo down but they've lost their units in the process. I imagine Neo is desperately trying to find a way to escape the area. We'll need to move quickly to prevent a repeat of the Mozambique disaster.



We can now research our last land-based unit, the Crusher tank. It's not as tough as the Crater but with two weapon mounts it can be the artillery we need to crack tough bases.



Neo's units are making quick work of this UCS base. It has no static defenses so it's only a matter of time until they level the place.



Neo is fleeing to the south in his customized Caspian. Knowing his MO he's likely to be hiding in the mountains with an easy escape route behind him.



The Jupiter has unloaded but Fang's paranoia has taken the best of him. He's ordered all LC combat units to remain at the LZ. Any unit violating this order will be shot by Fang himself.



Only a few paces from the LZ, Fang encounters the first group of turncoat UCS robots. Tiger I Rs are pushovers and he can clear them quickly. Hopefully if Fang moves quickly enough he can save the base and get some answers about where Neo is headed and how well-secured the perimeter is.



Unfortunately Fang arrives at the base only to find rubble around him. Neo planted a subterranean bomb that blew as soon as Fang approached. The UCS plasma cannons manage to knock a fair bit off of Fang's shield before he can kill all the traitor robots.



Fang moves southwest and finds a small group of Pamir Rs. Except these Pamirs are upgraded and are able to do quite a fair bit of harm before they're destroyed.



And their destruction triggers a second ambush. This one is much, much larger and composed of Siberia R and Ls plus more Pamir Rs. This is right at the edge of what Fang can take.



This is bad. This is very bad. Fang's almost out of ammo and the Siberia Ls are hitting harder than ever. As painful as it is, I'll need to do a tactical retreat to keep Fang alive. Once those shields go down he'll fry.



I called the retreat in the nick of time. It's going to take too long for Fang to allow his shields and armor to naturally regenerate though.




The LC army is as loyal as ever and don't move a muscle to help their commander. However Fang does permit the shield recharger and HP regenerator to assist as they're non-combat units.



A second attack on the Siberia Ls is much more successful. Damned lasers.



Fang's made it into the hills surrounding the ruins of the city. The Cristo Redentor is still standing even after all the destruction Rio has seen.

Fun fact: the mission maps in this game are very accurate geographically. Rio looks almost exactly like this with some obvious caveats related to distance and terrain for gameplay reasons.



Neo's not in the hills though. Instead Fang runs into the ED's Ural heavy tanks. Just like the Crusher we're researching these tanks allow two weapon mounts. They're extremely deadly but...



They have very low HP and weak armor. Fang can eliminate them without a sweat.




Speaking of double-mount chassis, our new Crusher is done. I make two variations similar to the Crater: one for rocket attacks and one for electro-cannon attacks. I also begin work on the next 2 chassis upgrades. These tanks are extremely expensive. I can't imagine having more than 2 or 3 in an army at a time.



Moving south, Fang finds yet another Pamir R ambush.



But this one didn't have any units backing it up. The tanks explode almost instantly.



Well except for these tanks that is!



Shit. I guess we weren't able to stop the ED before schematics of the Ion Cannon got out. This is bad news.



Fortunately Fang has enough shield power to allay any worries about the Caspians.



We're running out of places to look for Neo. He's got to be at the end of this peninsula. But why would Neo run to such an enclosed position? It doesn't fit.



More Pamir Rs. Thank god Fang is at full ammo or they tanks could probably kill him.



We have an update from LC News! We're now officially halfway done with Catharsis. All those transferred credits from Mozambique are much appreciated up there at the orbital construction yard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV-Pi0RHGbw



Alright this is the last spot on the map and so Neo's got to...

He's not here? Where the hell could he be hiding?



Just a few meters from the UCS base. I guess he was hoping we'd skip this little bit of land because it was too close to the scene of the crime. But we're thorough. How's he planning on escaping though? Fang's sitting on the only way out.



Oh right. Neo's in a customized Caspian, he can go on the water. It looks like his plan is to flee south on the ocean. But he knows that Fang's tank is faster than him. This is totally pointless.



Oh good god. Neo wants Fang to see in the windows of his craft while he fires the last shot. That's why he fled, so he could turn around and make Fang watch while he does it.




One laser bolt and he's gone. Neo is finally dead. Fang has saved the UCS-LC alliance and I'm sure both sides are grateful. But he killed his only real friend from the 2140 war. I wonder if he feels like a hero?






It'd be more poetic if the only unit that counted as ED was Neo so we could see "LC: 1 unit destroyed, ED: 1 unit lost."



Before we start the next mission, here's the m2 of the Crusher.



And here's the m3. 900 HP is only 150 HP less than what the Crater has so at least these things aren't total lightweights under fire.



Another ED base to destroy. But with Neo gone we can finally get real cooperation from our allies. We just have a little bit to go. And it turns out Rio wasn't a sinister UCS-LC plot to assassinate Fang. Maybe this alliance can last the whole war