Part 87: The Second Ring

With General Fang saved from certain death our attention can turn back to the development of Sunlight. By now the UCS have almost certainly figured out what we're doing and are attempting to take control of the four quadrants before we do. Fortunately our defenses in Alpha Quadrant are holding but their positions in Gamma and Delta are too strong for us to take at this time. Beta, on the other hand is still in dispute. Not only do we need to seize control from the UCS, but we also need to send 40,000 credits to HQ for continued research into the weapon.

That's quite a task given the circumstances, but I'm sure we can pull it off. Lets get to it.



We don't start with much, not even a mineral patch. The inclusion of heavy tanks is a nice touch though. Speaking of heavy tanks...

Research: Crater m1, m2 and m3



While we didn't start with any resources, there's a nice patch just to the east of our starting location. This should be enough to get things running and let us mount a first assault.



This base set up should protect our Mines from any UCS attacks. The power plant is a bit too forward for my liking, but the terrain did not leave us with many other options.



Our 2 Meteor fighters have continued to scout and discovered a few light UCS units to our southeast. They're barely a threat to our Meteors, much less the base as a whole, however, I'm guessing that they're on the path to one of the UCS bases here.



Our base is established. If you notice I've put a laser wall on the western flank of the base. Given the forward nature of most of the base's critical structures, I'll need to make sure and funnel any enemy units away from these vulnerable structures. This wall is the first step.



The Meteors discover a similar cluster of UCS units in the west. It looks like there's two paths here; west and east. Let's try the eastern one first. Our eastern flank is more exposed than the west, so eliminating this base first would allow me to breathe a little easier.





The UCS is still using unshielded units. This is getting absurd. It's not much of a fight when the enemy is disabled before they can do any damage.



My suspicions were right; it looks like those units were guarding the entrance to the base. Well girls, you know what to do.



The LC ladies have really started to toughen up. They're marching through the front gates, kicking ass and taking no prisoners.

...Er then again what good is a robot prisoner anyway?



Back at the base, I've extended our wall further south. Now our western flank is completely secure. There's nothing stopping the UCS from attacking here, but I'll at least have a warning.



The UCS base is succumbing to our assault. There's almost no resistance beyond the initial towers. They really need to invest in comprehensive base defense. Or shields. Shields would help.

Research: Heavy Rocket upgrade I, II and III





Shouldn't be too much longer now. Power plants are falling base-wide and the defenses have been almost entirely swept away. The crater now lays open to us.





We've moved into the rear of the UCS base and begun hammering their mining operation. We need all those resources for Project Sunlight, you can't have any! Bad Robots! Bad!



Here's a clever tactic. The UCS have noticed our rather stretched supply line and are harassing the Mercury transports. It's quite a long line as you can see from the minimap. The current engagement is occurring in the southeastern quadrant of the base. Our supplies need to fly from all the way at the top of the map down to there with no escort. It's like I'm begging the UCS to shoot them all down.



Of course it also would help if our pilots didn't fly directly over the few defensive installations left standing



Even though we're facing a bit of a supply issue, the crater is now clear enough that I feel comfortable building the Xyrex plants.



Why you little...

Guess the UCS wasn't as beaten as I thought. They've managed to shoot this Xyrex plant out of the sky. That's a whole lot of credits down the tubes. Thankfully we've got over 20,000 credits at this point so it's not too harsh a loss and I can order another one without delay.



The blue UCS faction has managed to rebuild a little near the base entrance. Once these structures are destroyed the southeast will be ours...hey what's that?



Shit. Gargoyles and Bats are attacking our Xyrex plants. Thanks to destruction of our Mercury transports there's no way for us to shoot back as our rocket units lack ammunition.



I just have to sit here and watch them blow up another Xyrex plant. If the UCS sacrificed this base so they could harass my building efforts my hat is off to them. I've never managed to lose two Xyrex plants in under 5 minutes before.



The last of the blue base is destroyed. All we have to do now is cross the canyon and the next base will be ou-

Oh.


They blew the bridges when they retreated. That's just so nice of them. Especially since we have no way of rebuilding bridges. It's almost like they knew ravines are our only weakness. How the hell are we going to get across now?



While I think of an idea, I build a resupply depot here and ship over every remaining unit from HQ. Even the Unit Transporters.

Wait.

The...unit...trans...po-I HAVE THE BEST IDEA EVER!



Don't mind us UCS, just blowing up some towers. The usual you know.

Oh also note how the game auto-deducts the 40,000 credits once you have enough.



Required listening:

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

-Breaker One Nine. Come in Rubber Ducky. Do you copy Rubber Ducky?

-Copy, Rubber Ducky here. Coming through loud and clear. Bring in the Butterfingers. Repeat, bring the Butterfingers. Over and out.

-Roger, Rubber Ducky. Hear that ladies? START UP THE CONVOY!





♬ Come on and ride our convoy, far across the moon! ♬

♬ It's a great, grand, ole convoy, bringing joy and electro-cannons everywhere ♬



♬ Ain't she a beautiful convoy, bringin' Moon ladies to the fight! ♬

♬ Yep, such a lovely convoy, they'll blow the UCS out of sight! ♬



Sadly our convoy joy was diverted for a few minutes when the UCS decided to blow up some solar panels. Clearly they hate the big rig lifestyle we're bringing to the moon.



Take that you metal morons! Now everything has shields. Try getting through that before we blast you off this rock.





With The Convoy finished we can start blowing up the western UCS base.



The UCS could not possibly imagine The Convoy so their eastern flank is completely undefended.

Research: Guardian tower





After a bit of time the ring of towers protecting the crater falls. Time to build more things!



These power plants are no longer powering anything, but we still have to take them out.



The front of the base wasn't very well-defended either. It's even less fearsome without any power.



Two bases down. Two craters conquered. One more to go.



I'll build another supply base here, solely because I don't want to have to walk back to our first base when the mission is all over.



These Mercury transports have helped me spot a nice weakness in the final UCS base in the center of the map. Do you see it too? That's right. The southwest corner is almost completely undefended.



Send in the air cover then send in...



THE CONVOY



Oh shit. Someone doesn't want us having fun out on the roads. Why I bet it's mean, creepy ole Sheriff Lyle!



Nothing a few rockets can't fix though.



Like I said, this side of the base is really, really poorly defended.



Who sticks a research center all the way out there?



Oh no, a UCS attack! Look at those three fearsome Tigers and one Spider. Will they push us back?

Spoiler alert: they do not.



There goes the last bit of power to the UCS base. We just need to mop up, build a few things and then head home.



It's just a matter of building the last Xyrex plant and destroying those last four towers. Should only take a minute.





Success! Who would've thought that ferrying units back and forth could be so fun?





We also managed to deliver 12 containers filled with assorted dried goods and a single giant tank of oil



Fang's work on the Moon is almost finished. He's managed to build a new prototype of his ship that is (hopefully) far less explode-y than the last one, but we'll need to move the units between his base and an Ixchel research center that will allow us to put the vehicle into mass production. You know, I hope this new prototype is also impervious to traitors who blow up ACME Labs or this might be a sad mission


Just in case the convoy joke didn't make any sense:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_%28song%29